


The Curse of Love

by orphan_account



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Curses, Doll!Kanda, Drama, Hate to Love, Love at First Sight, M/M, Romance, Supernatural - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-04
Updated: 2016-09-29
Packaged: 2018-08-12 22:29:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 45,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7951636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It took only one glance. One glance for Allen Walker to fall head over heels for the Cursed Geisha: the most beautiful of dolls with the most wretched of hearts. It took one mere glance to take everything away.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yet another Yullen that's been sitting in my mind for a while! I'm on a roll, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing... This is another strange work, and I'm not sure if it's been done already, but it was in my mind, so yeah ^.^" I do hope you enjoy it, and even if you don't, I'm glad you took the time to read it ^.^ If all goes according to plan, this story shouldn't be too long, but nothing really ever goes completely according to plan, so...  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

“I can’t believe I made something like you - you’re a disappointment.”

Blue eyes widened, betrayal shining within them like the moon reflected upon a lake. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the white-haired male before him. Without even the decency to glare, the male merely crossed his arms over his chest and breathed out a discouraged sigh. He would have flinched.

“You weren’t supposed to be like this.”

“Then maybe you’re the disappointment for making me,” he retaliated sharply. “You’re too much of a coward to accept your flaws so you decided to make me. I hate people like you…” 

The pale, malformed features of the man before him twisted into a grotesque smirk. “Isn’t that your purpose, you stupid doll?”

An arm raised itself to the weapon concealed in a scarlet sword case that hung down his back. His pale gaze never left the dull grey of the shorter male that stood before him. “You can’t even number the amount of mistakes you’ve made in your life that you haven’t learned from. I’m just another one of them.”

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that - I’m the one that made you.”

“I never asked to be made - I never asked to exist. All I know is as long as you exist, your curse lies with me. I won’t tolerate that any more.” Drawing from the case his sword, the long-haired male brandished  the blade before the face of his maker. “If you die, then I die as well.”

“You’ve got to be joking,” the white-haired man responded, pushing the blade away and glaring up at him. “You wouldn’t do that.”

“Try me,” he challenged repositioning the blade at the neck of the shorter man. A bark of mirthless laughter passed the lips of the other, provoking him to multiply the pressure upon the weapon.

“Stupid doll - there is no living being that doesn’t value their own life to some extent.”

“And my extent is up,  _ master.”  _  The word dripped with prominent sarcasm as the shining blade cut a fine line into pale skin, causing the victim of it to tense.

“You can’t do this,” the male stated. “You wouldn’t.”

“I would,” he contradicted. “I hate you.” 

As the man faltered back, he only continued to advance, his pale gaze glittering with loathing. Soon, even as the shorter male was cornered between him and the walls, he did not cease, blade pressing into the soft, vulnerable flesh. 

His jaw tightened. He would do no wrong by committing this one crime. It would be both his first and his last, and he was content with that. Drawing his arm back slightly, he wasted little time in making a quick slash with his arm.

A pain lanced through his chest and he averted his eyes from the sight, lowering his soiled weapon. Stepping away as the body of his maker crumpled to the ground, he blatantly refused to look upon the scene. Even if he had hated the man, he was still the one that made him, and that would never change.

Slipping his sword back into its case, he let out a liberal sigh. A moment of regret fluttered through his chest for the first time, but was quickly banished by an overpowering sense of negative emotion. His eyes widened slightly as distorted laughter entered his perception, and his gaze fluttered over to the body, weakly twitching upon the ground and still bleeding out at the neck.

“Stupid doll--” the man garbled reedily, a sharp bark of laughter succeeded by a harsh cough that sprayed blood from his lips following the address. “Did you really think you could end everything that easily~?”

The sensation of shock settled over the taller of the two as though someone had thrown icy water onto his person. His breath caught in his throat as the sleeve of his elegantly patterned scarlet kimono was tugged down, pulling himself down with it.

“Everything passes in this world,” the white-haired male rasped. “Life, material objects, and even this thing they call ‘love’. But do you know what lasts forever~?” 

Each muscle within the long-haired male’s body screamed at him to pull away - anything but remain there and listen. His body, however, refused to listen to him, and to his horror, it did not seem to weaken either despite the obvious mere seconds that his creator had left.

“Hatred.”

The rattling breath of a word entered his perception as the fingers grasping his sleeve loosened and fell limply to the ground. The gaze of the remaining figure within the less than decent home glazed over as he crumpled onto his knees.

* * *

“Hey, Allen!” Lavi greeted with a grin as the white-haired male settled beside him upon a park bench that stood close to their university’s campus, gargantuan lunch accompanying the arrival of the shorter man.

“Hi, Lavi - where’s Lenalee?” Allen settled himself down upon the bench, right hand lightly gripping the smooth, weather-beaten wood beneath him.

The redhead shrugged. “Probably skyping with her brother or something. How she stands the guy, I don’t know - he’s in a whole new category of overprotective.” 

A chuckle passed pale lips. “I guess so. What’ve you been up to?”

The glint in the one visible eye of the taller male caused him to raise an eyebrow in question. The grin of the redhead widened. “Just went through the library on campus again - the place is great, seriously.”

“For you, maybe,” Allen sighed. 

“Aw - Allen-chan, you ought to appreciate the brilliance of education,” Lavi chirped, ruffling the monochrome locks of the younger male.

“Yeah, yeah…” Allen pushed the hand away from his head and grabbed a subway sandwich from the wide array of food by his side. His gaze drifted down to the phone within the hands of the redhead. “What’s new?”

“Huh - this?” A single bright green eye trailed down to the device. “Oh - you remember what I told you last time about the Cursed Geisha?”

Allen frowned, chewing on his inconveniently large bite of sandwich. Swallowing, he glanced down at the screen of the phone. Lavi had mentioned something like that before… He blinked. “Oh, that doll thing whose owners were all murdered?”

“Yep! That’s the one. Apparently it’s up for sale again. That’s what - the fifth person that’s died this month?”

Allen rolled his eyes, grabbing the container of rice from his side and beginning to polish that off with ease as well. “Things like that are made just to gather attention, Lavi. It must be some sort of fluke.”

“But how would you explain all the murders then?” the redhead countered. “And there’s no sparing anyone regardless of age or gender.” 

“I thought you weren’t the type to believe in that nonsense,” Allen ventured. “What sort of doll is this Cursed Geisha to bring that fate on its owners anyway?”

It was admittedly curious, and perhaps even somewhat unnerving, he would admit, but it couldn’t be real. Superstitions like that were fake; there had to be a perfectly logical explanation behind the murders that had occurred.

As an image was discovered by the redhead and shown to him, his eyes widened. Surely there was no chance that those stories were true. That doll was just too…beautiful. He had even gone as far as to cease with the consumption of his lunch in favour of staring at the image.

He had seen geisha dolls before, but this was no ordinary figure - that was clear enough. For one, it was clearly not a woman, but a young man. 

With pale, unmarked skin, and sharp features that exuded a handsome feralness, it was clear that the maker of the doll had taken time to meticulously craft every millimetre of the figure. Long, raven tresses were pulled into a ponytail by a scarlet ribbon, and further embellished by minuscule, golden hair-ornaments that took the form of translucent flowers. A few locks and bangs framed a elegantly sculpted face, and pale blue eyes were enhanced about the corners with something that seemed to mimic red eyeliner. Adorning its body was a fitting sleeveless turtleneck, navy blue in hue. Hanging off its upper arms down to its ankles was a scarlet kimono, ornamented with golden cherry blossoms and fastened at the waist by matching obi. Hanging from its back was what seemed to be a sword case. 

It was…beautiful. Allen took the phone from Lavi’s hands and stared at it, entranced. Never before had he seen such a stunning doll. These days, dolls seemed either for children, or for nightmare fuel. But he didn’t understand just how anyone could call this cursed. 

“I know, right? That’s what I thought at first too,” Lavi stated, as if able to see just what had transpired within his mind. “But it’s too strange, you know. Everyone getting killed impartially and all. But somehow someone always ends up buying it anyway because it’s so beautiful.”

Scrolling up to gather more information about it, he made his decision. Lunch forgotten, he pulled his own phone from his pocket and searched for the seller of the apparent ‘cursed geisha’. He wanted it.

“Err…Allen?” Lavi called, waving a hand before the eyes of the seemingly bewitched white-haired male. However, his movement was not registered as Allen confirmed the sale upon his phone before resting it, satisfied, upon his lap.

“Yes?”

“You have got to be kidding me…” The redhead’s palm met his forehead as his gaze dropped down to the shorter male’s phone. “Even after all that, you still want to buy that thing?”

“The stories aren’t real,” Allen dismissed. He didn’t believe in that absurdity. Besides - even if they did turn out to be true, he could defend himself well enough against anything. 

His gaze drifted back down to the image of the creation. It was almost unearthly in its allure. Allen had never seen anything like it. A faint smile curled onto his lips. He could have sworn he felt something within his chest flutter at the mere sight of it. It was strange, but he wouldn’t change it.

“Yeah, you must be right,” Lavi halfheartedly agreed. “Things like that are ridiculous.” To Allen, it sounded as though the redhead was attempting to convince himself. Not that it mattered. Having possession of a mere doll couldn’t hurt him.

Grabbing another sandwich from his pile of food that fell under the category of ‘lunch’, he once again began to eat almost nonchalantly. “Don’t worry about it,” he assured between mouthfuls. “Everything will turn out fine.” 

“If you say so…”

“I do say so.” Allen smiled at the taller male. “It’s only a doll.”

* * *

“Delivery!”

Allen padded over to the door and opened it with a pleasant smile directed to the delivery man. Signing the few papers, he thanked the man and accepted the box, roughly two feet in length. As he retreated back into the house, he set the box upon the couch before hurrying to shut the door.

Grabbing an X-ACTO knife from a small drawer within the coffee table, he began to carefully cut through the tape that secured the box. Heart beating swiftly in anticipation, he lowered the knife and opened the box, merely opting to stare down at the figure within it for a few moments.

The doll was just as exquisite in real life, if not more than what the images of it implied. Drawing a sharp intake of breath, he lifted the doll from the box and held it carefully, admiring its every finely crafted detail. It must have been an old figure, and yet, it was far from flawed. 

He smiled warmly down at the doll. Perhaps it was strange to treat it as though it were a living, breathing thing, but upon first sight, he had already felt an attachment to it. He resolved to treasure it - after all, it was not just another possession.

“You really are beautiful,” he stated softly, setting the doll down upon the coffee table. He needed to capture an image of it for himself. Standing, he began to head from the living room down the hall for his bedroom. 

“And you must be really naive.” 

Allen froze as a shadow cast itself over him. No. Way. There was no way it was possible. Things like that didn’t happen in real life. Apprehensively, he refused to move, merely staring down at the shadow that hung over him.

“To grow so attached to a doll within seconds of having it,” the raven continued, drawing from the fabric case upon his back a sword and brandishing it with dark eyes. “You really are foolish.” 

It was a dream, he concluded. It couldn’t possibly be real, and he wouldn’t be too surprised if this was what his mind had fabricated within a matter of moments. Shaking his head slightly, he began to turn to view what was standing behind him.

“No one managed to bring me to life in less than a few days,” the male continued, advancing upon him. “The less stupid they are, the longer it takes to kill them. It’s a pity you have to die so soo--”

Two pairs of eyes met each other in shock, before one was swiftly flooded by rage. A sword was pulled from the case that hung at the back of the stranger’s body, and was brandished threateningly before Allen’s face causing him to blink, not having registered the situation due to the speed of it.

“You…! I thought I killed you! You shouldn’t be alive - die!”

“...” Allen tilted his head slightly, the situation not quite registering itself fully within his mind as he gazed at the taller figure in veritable puzzlement. “...who said I had to die so soon?” he questioned. He blinked. Wait… Did this person intend to kill him? He frowned. “Oh no you don’t,” he stated.

Taking a few quick steps, he shifted away from the blade that had directed itself towards him and threw a punch at the male, aiming for his head. 

“You dare fight back to me?!” the raven demanded from beneath him. He blinked, finding his gloved hand buried within the wall, and the male standing before him, in doll form. He frowned. 

“Are you really that doll?” he questioned incredulously, bending down and lifting the raven up to the light in order to scrutinize him more closely. The blue eyes of the doll widened and a scowl spread over his face as he stabbed his sword down into the left hand of the white-haired male.

“Don’t call me that--!” he snapped, pulling the sword from the gloved appendage and allowing it to bleed.  

“Ow--!” the sharp yelp left the lips of the British boy as he relinquished his grasp on the doll. It nearly fell to the ground, did he not reach out and catch it before it could make any impact. A relieved breath passed his lips. “What did you do that for? You almost broke!” he complained. “And besides - what should I call you? I don’t want to call you Cursed Geisha - you’re too beautiful for a name like that.”

“What did you say, you beansprout?”

Once again, Allen near dropped the figure. “What did you just call me?!”

“Beansprout, beansprout.” 

“I’m not a beansprout!” Allen retorted, his silver gaze narrowing. “I’m an average height - you’re the beansprout, you know; you’re just a doll!” 

“Excuse me?”

Allen blinked as the doll within his arms sprouted into a human form once more, and much to his dismay, it was indeed considerably taller than he was. Crossing his arms with a faint frown marring his lips, he averted his eyes. “I’m still average height. You’re just too tall.” 

“Che.” 

The obvious smugness within the tone of the raven made Allen want to punch him again, but he resisted the urge. His grey eyes drifted back to the taller male, only to find himself staring barefaced at the raven once again. Not only was he irritating, he was irritatingly beautiful, much to Allen’s chagrin. 

This had to be a strange dream. Dolls that moved and became humans were things that existed within stories or movies. Not real life. But for now, if it was a dream, then he would allow it. Although if he were to be honest, he wasn’t certain as to when he had fallen asleep.

“What is your name anyway?” he questioned. 

The raven clucked his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest, eyes averting themselves from Allen. This only caused the shorter male to tilt his head in curiosity, despite remaining silent.

“It doesn’t matter. It changes with anyone who owns me anyway. Not that they last very long,” he responded brusquely. 

“You know, you really are beautiful,” Allen interpolated, as though he had been pondering the matter for a while now. Even the whimsical clothing that wreathed the body of the taller male had grown to fit him perfectly. The words caused the raven to stop short and stare at him incredulously before his eyes narrowed and he reached out, pinning the white-haired male against the wall by his neck.

“Don’t ever call me that,” he snapped sharply, his eyes virtually burning with a cold flame. “It’s all lies.”

Calmly, Allen reached up with his left hand, glove now soiled with crimson, and took hold of the one that entrapped him, moving it away with a surprisingly powerful grip for someone of his stature. His gaze remained cool as he eyed the taller male. 

“I doubt it,” he responded. “I don’t know what your problem is, but you’re still beautiful and that won’t change any time soon.”

“Shut up…!” the raven hissed, moving to grab his sword once again. “I swear I’ll kill you!” 

Raising his hands resignedly, Allen merely shrugged placatingly. “You probably have your reasons, but I really don’t want to die right now, so don’t kill me.” He chuckled slightly and stepped out of the way of the raven. “I’ll just go bandage my hand or something and grab us something to eat, all right?”

Smiling pleasantly, he disappeared into the kitchen and pulled off his glove, making sure to hide from the sight of the raven. Reaching up to one of the cabinets, he pulled from it a medical kit and retrieved a large adhesive bandage. Slapping that onto the pronounced vein that had been stabbed by what was a sword but had felt like a toothpick, he slipped his glove back on.

“Do you like sweet things?” he called out into the living room, opening the refrigerator.

“Che. Hate them.” 

Sighing, Allen retrieved from the fridge some vegetable tempura that Lavi had given him, but he had, surprisingly, never gotten around to eating. Perhaps he was being presumptuous, but the doll did have Asiatic themes, so perhaps he liked Asian food.

Grabbing a pair of rogue chopsticks from where he kept all the cutlery, he brought the dish out to the raven, and placed it on the coffee table. “Eat,” he invited, sitting down upon the couch and staring up at the taller male, who eyed the dish suspiciously. 

“It’s only tempura - it won’t hurt anyone,” Allen sighed, propping his arm up against the armrest of the couch and leaning his head against it. “I don’t think anyone’s bothered to give you food for a while so go ahead.” 

“...che.” 

Much to his delight, the raven decided to forego whatever enmity he bore against him, and eat. Allen could not help the slight smile that adorned his lips, despite the fact that the raven had attempted to kill him mere minutes prior.

Silver eyes drifted over to the fireplace in thought as he waited for the apparent doll to finish his humble repast. A thoughtful  frown curved onto his features as his eyes drifted back to the taller male.

“Say… You never told me what your name was,” he stated simply. As both the plate and the chopsticks lowered onto the lap of the male, he frowned. No eye contact was made between them as he awaited the response from the other. 

“Che. That doesn’t matter.” 

His frown deepened. “Yes, it does.” The slight tensing of surprise from the taller male caused his to tilt his head slightly, but nonetheless continue. “Your name is part of your identity, and if you don’t know what it is, you don’t know who you are.” 

His words caused the raven to scowl, hand drifting dangerously close to the hilt of his sword. “Shut up. It doesn’t matter. One name’s as good as another as long as you respond.”

Allen paused, his eyes widening. “Do you…not have a name?” he ventured tentatively. 

“Che. Of course I do. I’ve had how many different owners again? You’re just another one of them,” the male responded coldly, and almost bitterly. Allen shook his head.

“If they gave you a name as a doll, that’s not what I’ll do. If you don’t have a name, then I’ll give you one as a human. Not a doll.” 

“Like what?” the other challenged. “‘Monster’? ‘Stupid doll’?”

“...Kanda!” 

“...what.”

Allen smiled. “I’ll name you Kanda.” Opening another drawer of the coffee table, he pulled from it a notepad and a pen. “I think it suits you,” he continued, jotting down within the notebook before turning to look back at the raven. “Ka as the ‘ka’ in  神 , and da as ‘ta’ in  田.” Showing the taller male the characters within the notebook, he smiled hopefully.

“...”

Allen could see the incredulity within the eyes of the raven, but that did little to deter him. “‘Kami’, because you’re so beautiful, it’s unearthly, and ‘ta’, because looking into your eyes is like looking into the sky from an open field on a cloudless day…” Allen drifted off. “Lavi taught me some Japanese, so…”

For a moment, no words proceeded from either the raven or the British teen. Finally, the taller of the two stood, placing the plate upon the coffee table with narrowed eyes. 

“...che. One name’s as good as another. It doesn’t matter, moyashi.”

Allen’s smile quickly faded into a scowl. “That’s not my name, BaKanda! It’s Allen!”

The raven merely stared at him for a few moments before looking away darkly, his hand resting upon the hilt of his sheathed sword. “That doesn’t matter either. You’ll end up dead regardless.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. I'm not sure if Horror was appropriate for this, but depending on how things progress, that tag may or may not stay. Supernatural is there because of our beautiful Kanda, and the rest goes without saying~ I think Allen is really cute when he's trying to name Kanda... But maybe that's just me ^.^"


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has already given lovely support (as always~) I do hope you enjoy this, and I think I may have to make some modifications...maybe. We'll see.  
> Chapters may not come as fast as they did before... I've become awfully busy as of late. I will try to update at the least once a week, and maybe twice at some times. If I can do one per day like usual, then I will, but no promises unfortunately...  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Unsheathing his sword in a lithe movement, the newly named Kanda stood abruptly, and pointed the sharp end of the weapon at the shorter male, sitting on the opposing side of him. His red-accentuated gaze narrowed as the temperature between them palpably dropped.

“An act of goodwill has to be repaid in like. You will live until I kill you.”

Allen blinked dumbly for a few moments before tilting his head in query. “I don’t particularly understand how that’s repaying an ‘act of goodwill’.”

“Che.” 

The raven-haired male extended his arm until the flat of his blade rested itself snugly against the cheek of the other. This man… As much as Kanda despised him, there was something concerning him that was admittedly unnerving, aside from the obvious similarity in appearance between this beansprout and _him_.

That too, was another initiator of the doll’s circumspection. It agitated him to see such brainlessly considerate actions and composed words regardless of how hazardous the situation may have appeared.

The disquietude was only multiplied by the fact that not so much as a falter danced within the silver eyes of the shorter male, notwithstanding the sword that currently balanced his chin upon its flat, forcing him to meet eyes with the raven’s own piercing gaze.

Much to the chagrin of the taller male, he found the eyes of the young man meeting his own squarely, and staring into them with a somewhat dazed expression due to the intensity of his gaze. Clucking his tongue, the doll abruptly averted his eyes.

“Che. I hate people like you,” he hissed tersely. His wrist sedately twisted to play Allen’s chin perilously upon the edge of his blade, slitting a thin line onto the pale skin. The action resulted in the beading of crimson upon the small wound, but that did nothing to deter the white-haired male.

“So I suspected,” Allen responded with a slight shrug, lifting his hand to carefully push the keen swordblade away from his being in a movement that could be regarded as partially stupefied. A slight smile crept onto his lips as he stood from the couch and stepped past the raven. “I don’t know if I can hate you just yet, but maybe it might get there. If you don’t kill me before it can, that is.”

His words caused Kanda to stop short and stare, almost bewildered, at Allen’s back as he left the living room in favour of heading to some other room situated at the opposite end of the short hall. His eyes narrowed as he sheathed his sword in displeasure. Even their voices were alike.

The very notion caused a raging bitterness to corner his nonexistent heart and unleash a seething malice through his chest and over every inch of his beguilingly alluring figure, although hidden well under a deep frown, and calm yet somehow poised to kill at any given moment stance.

That man was surely not the one he had known once. Not only did his character fall short of the nefarious aura he had exuded once upon a time, but his appearance was more suitable to the eyes of the beholder, although similarities in that context were, unfortunately, undeniable.

Before, the task of murder was simple: live, kill, be rendered inanimate, and repeat. Now, however, he found that his goal was slowly being overwhelmed by the sense of unease that washed over his body each time his eyes met those of the white-haired male. Many people had regarded him with adoring eyes prior, but those twin orbs of silver that reflected the stars themselves seemed to gaze past his enigmatic identity and into his very soul.

Kanda found himself shuddering in distaste. It was repulsive. Those eyes, albeit lacking significantly in the malign emanation category, were clearly the same as the ones he had seen before. And yet…simultaneously, they were ludicrously different.

The feeling of unsurity was one that he deduced he could brand as puzzlement. He despised the feeling of being unable to conceive the entirety of any concept, and so far, there were two things that he could not comprehend: this transient thing they called ‘love’ and the beansprout who possessed no sense of danger.

Piercing eyes bored figurative holes into the door within which the shorter man had disappeared into as Kanda found his body growing stiffer and much, much colder. As his being itself compressed, his magnitude diminished until he stood upon the wooden floor, his body having returned to its doll dimensions.

His gaze narrowed as he scanned the vast expanse that was the white-haired male’s home, a faint smirk crossed his features. Oh, he would be able to make quick work of all of this, but perhaps he would toy with the man for a small while and break him. After all, it was the least he could do in repayment for a long-standing grudge.

Kanda had never once met a man who seemed so ignorant to the fact that he could potentially die. Not to mention Allen even possessed the audacity to turn his back to him while he was armed. If he wished to do so, he could have skewered the shorter male.

The thought angered him far more than he was willing to admit, but it concomitantly piqued his rarely present interest in humanity as a whole. Somehow, despite that, he felt discomfited; as though the situation bore a latent menace that pricked at his skin in the most unpleasant of sensations. It made his fingers virtually spasm with the need to kill.

That was all he was, after all. He couldn’t even fall into the category of stupid decorative doll that had no mind, life, or soul of its own. It was a sobering thought, but he could not be bothered. All the blame rested upon his first and only truly despised master.

His gaze drifted over to the notepad that rested upon the coffee table, where it had been abandoned by the white-haired male. He frowned at the characters written upon it. Allen was not only the only person who possessed him that reacted so casually upon his transformation, but he was also the only one that had given him a name he found he could appreciate, even if only slightly.

He had suffered many thoughtless names, most of which caused him to scowl in mortification at the mere thought of them, but much to his resentment, he found that he didn’t mind being called ‘Kanda’, as he had been named by Allen, of all people.

Why someone would put so much thought into a mere name, although it had been decided in a time frame of mere moments, was beyond Kanda. After all, he himself had stated that one name was as good as another as long as the subject of the name responded.

However, the shorter male had contended, claiming one’s name to be one’s identity. If that were the case, the beansprout was a mere beansprout and nothing more. He flatly refused to address this naive excuse for an owner by his given name. It would be an insult to his tongue.

Stiffly, he raised a porcelain hand to trace the lines that formed his name. Even after being brought to life, the shorter male had not seen him as anything but ‘beautiful’, as he had so repeated. Kanda scowled. He despised being referred to as such. It only served as a reminder to him of how truly hideous he was.

He, despite having no place in the human realm, could be taken as the epitome of humanness itself. He was well aware  of his desirable appearance, and supposed that, in the eyes of a human, he was indeed beautiful. However, he was also well aware of the falseness of the statement when it boiled down to what was truly imperative.

Clucking his tongue in thinly-veiled vexation, he slowly embarked on his self-imposed journey to the room within which the sprout currently resided. He needed to understand just why Allen acted and reacted as he did. Either he was exceptionally bold, or unspeakably stupid.

Approaching the door, he pushed against it, only to realize that, in his form, he could not reach the handle of the door. Scowling, he began to grow until he was far above it. Reaching down, he twisted the handle and pushed the door open.

Stopping short, he stared at the sight of the white-haired male, lacking in a shirt, and tending to a visibly malformed arm, reddish in appearance and unnaturally sinuous. Standing within the doorway, he found himself unable to speak.

“Kanda?! Why are you here?”

The shorter male promptly fumbled around himself  for anything that would cover his body from the sight of the doll. Returning to his senses subsequently to the initial surprise, Kanda scowled.

“Che. Don’t bother - I’ve already seen it all anyway.” He strongly doubted that the young man was aware of the fact that he was not in any way referring to him.

As his gaze trailed over the undeniably slender figure of the shorter male, he frowned. The scars remained present as well after all. He breathed out an irritated sigh and shut the door behind himself, leaning against it. How Allen could have come across such injuries nowadays was beyond him.

“Didn’t anyone teach you it isn’t polite to enter without knocking?” Allen sighed, somewhat exasperated as he lowered his shirt, which he had managed to acquire in his fishing around for covering.

“Maybe they did. I just don’t care,” Kanda replied brusquely. He caught the faint smile that crossed the lips of the shorter male, provoking his own frown to deepen.

“Anyway, was there anything you wanted?” he questioned.

“You’re awfully unresponsive for someone who’s seen me like this,” Kanda stated without hesitation. Allen blinked before chuckling, and then breaking into a bout of light laughter.

“That’s what was bothering you?” he questioned, shirt forgotten as he approached the taller male. Kanda glared down at him.

“You must be insanely stupid,” he muttered.

“Well, if you killed your other owners, which you probably did, that means you’ll kill me too, right? And if I’m going to die anyway, all you’re doing is speeding up the process, right?”

That was a rather unconvincing argument in Kanda’s opinion. After all, there was no living being that did not value their own life; that was what he had been taught, and that was what he adhered to. And yet… this young man, whose appearance could potentially bring out the worst in him, was turning that logic upon its head.

“That’s idiotic,” he snapped. Allen merely shrugged, and raised his hand, causing Kanda to tense. However, to the everlasting, albeit unadmitted, astonishment of the raven, he merely laid it tentatively upon his jaw.

“You’re cold,” Allen stated, as though the fact had come across as a surprise.

“I’m not a human,” Kanda responded tersely. Allen shook his head and lowered his gaze down to trace over his clothing.

“Is that really warm enough for you to wear?” he questioned. A tick of annoyance manifested upon the forehead of the taller male.

“I have no human sense of temperature, moyashi! I don’t need your sentiment.”

“It’s Allen!” The shorter of the two sighed and lower his hand. “And if you insist. But if you need any clothing, I’ll get some for you.”

“Che.”

“Anyway,” Allen swiftly transitioned, “Maybe it is idiotic, but I’m just really…not afraid of you,” he admitted simply. Blue eyes stared at him incredulously. He shrugged once again. “Sure - you’re capable of killing me. I know that. But even if you do, at least it’s you.”

What was that supposed to mean? Much to his dismay, Kanda found himself more intrigued by the boy, with familiar yet inexplicable abrasions upon his body, and that apparent manifestation of fearlessness within silver eyes.

“Is that all you wanted to know?” Allen interjected, abruptly derailing his train of thought. He frowned. Of course it wasn’t, but he would appear truly inquisitive if he questioned his owner’s identity further, something that he wouldn’t chance.

“Che.”

“All right, then.” The white-haired male paused. “Is it okay if I get to know more about you?”

“Hell no.” Turning his back to the shorter male, Kanda laid a slender hand upon the doorknob, prepared to leave the room. His stance stiffened at the sensation of a deformed hand laying itself upon his shoulder, unwarranted. He whipped around, smacking the hand from his body.

“Don’t touch me,” he snapped, his gaze narrowing into an unsubtle glare.

“...all right,” the shorter male agreed, lowering his hand. Kanda was quick to note the fact that Allen’s eyes never left his figure, despite his words. Pale blue eyes narrowed. He hated that gaze. It left him feeling strangely exposed, and he detested the sensation.

Biting back a stinging retort, he turned once again and opened the door, stepping out of the room.

“Kanda, wait.” Having in mind the response of ignoring the white-haired male, Kanda inwardly cursed his body which refused to comply with his will, and flashed a glance at the young man, who stood staring at him with that distant gaze.

“Che. What do you want.”

“Why do you hate me?” The question, was typically accompanied by undertones of betrayal, anger, or melancholy, but none were present within the white-haired male’s voice. If Kanda were to place a word upon it, he could say that the shorter sounded almost… curious, or even perplexed.

There were many reasons as to why Kanda abhorred him. He was an idiot to want possession of someone such as him. He was stupidly brave. He was abnormally lacking in conventional response. His appearance was strikingly similar to _him._

“I hate you because you’re human.”

With that, the taller of the two began to tread down the hall for the living room once again, not daring to chance a glance back at the young man. It seemed like a condescending or even meaningless response, but it was merely a cryptic statement that voiced Kanda’s own insecurities that he could not come to terms with.

He loathed the fact that Allen was yet another representation of the humanity that he viewed with a burning ire. He execrated the fact that he could not comprehend the white-haired male as he could other humans. Primarily, he detested the lack of fear within the male.

None other who had seen him as he was could ever looks directly into his eyes and tell him that the opinion remained that he was beautiful just as Allen had for cause of fear. It was only normal for a mortal human being to respond to such a situation in like manner. Allen was not normal.

Not to mention he was still moving. The white-haired male truly did not spare a single droplet of genuine hatred for him; that was something that he would have never once speculated as a possibility. The fact that such a person would exist was somewhat perturbing.

As his body shrank to its mere two feet and grew much stiffer, Kanda tightened the ropes that bound his sword to his back with a scowl. At this rate, he doubted he would be able to do much, After all, the satisfaction was of a greater magnitude when he could see the utter horrified aversion in the eyes of his victims. However, Allen seemed prepared for the fate, and had even gone as far as to say he would not mind.

Kanda thrived off the abhorrence that he was so accustomed to receiving. What the white-haired male was granting him now would not suffice. It only caused the bitterness dwelling within his chest like corrosive poison to spill throughout each inch of his body.

In a rare act of discomposure, he gritted his teeth and hefted his weapon from its protection within its case, and forcefully shattered his own face out of pure wrath and the lack of living things to terminate. The shards of porcelain made contact with the floor, causing them to split and fragment further.

The gaping cavity left at the posterior of his head seemed to emanate a sinister blackness as the pale splinters of what had once been his face laid stationary upon the floor. As the dark aura escaped him, it was absorbed the the home itself and  grew nonexistent within the expanse, save that which remained within his head.

For a few moments, he remained still, sword lowered to his side and no sign of movement within his temporarily out of commission body. The tangible darkness that shrouded his body made for a macabre sight, was there anyone there to witness it. Fortunately for him, that was not the case.

The glass particles upon the wooden floor that were his eyes darkened until there was no longer differentiation between sclera , iris or pupil. Within a matter of moments, his face began to piece itself together until fully repaired, the demented blackness still prominent within his narrowed eyes.

As his face, much like a mask, reattached itself to the remainder of his porcelain head, his eyes fluctuated back to their typical blue. Sheathing his sword, he breathed out and scowled. That wasn’t nearly as relieving as it had been once upon a time.

Dissatisfied, he stepped over to the coffee table and tore the paper with his name written upon  it out of the notebook. Folding it, he slipped it alongside his sword within the scarlet case upon his back. His gaze drifted over to the window.

They quickly flashed over to the wall within mere seconds of glancing out of the home he was within. Falling completely silent, he listened. His frown deepened and, as expected, he found the white-haired male stumbling out of his room, messily redressed and headed down the hall.

“...” No words passed the lips of either figure as Allen dashed for the door, opening it and leaving the premises of the house. Kanda followed after him with a scowl, locking the door. As the white-haired male opened the door of his car, Kanda was quick to rush over, sitting himself down in the passenger’s seat of the vehicle.

Almost as though Allen had not seen him, the shorter male strapped on his seatbelt and revved up the engine before pulling out onto the driveway and practically shooting down the empty road. Kanda found himself struggling to hold his body steady in its miniaturized form, due to the almost frenzied driving of the man.

“Five hours won’t be shortened with your terrible driving,” Kanda stated simply, his sharp gaze turning to fixate the white-haired male.

“I don’t care,” Allen responded, his voice somewhat hoarse and his eyes widened. Kanda scowled as he increased in size, before strapping himself into his seat as well. At the rate that the shorter male was going, he would doubtless smash against the window, and it would take him precious minutes to repair.

Although Allen had spoken nary a word of their current predicament, Kanda was full aware of it. After all, he was not human; why should his ability be limited to that of a human?  He had caught every word, and those pieces were enough for him to recreate the puzzle.

As they swerved through the streets, past the campus, and out onto the highway, Kanda found himself wondering just how the shorter male had received his driver’s license. An irritated cluck of the tongue passed his lips as he propped his arm, clad with scarlet and gold sleeve, upon the door of the vehicle, resting his cheek upon his knuckles.

His gaze drifted over the scenery that they travelled past. It was the same as always, and plainly put, uninteresting. A faint cough passed his lips and he muffled it behind his hand, his eyes once again trailing over to the young man.

“Why does this ‘Mana’ mean so much to you,” he stated, as opposed to questioning the shorter male. Allen’s concentration was almost completely dissipated, did he not recall the fact that he was upon a highway.

“...how did you know about Mana?” he questioned, his voice taut, but his eyes never leaving the road.

“The walls have ears, moyashi,” the raven responded simply. “Nothing you say is unheard.”

The silence that progressed within them was nothing short of discomfited. Kanda closed his eyes before opening them once again, gaze turned away from the white haired male. The same thin, dark substance drifted from his eyes sockets and surrounded the car they sat within, although Allen did not seem to notice.

As minutes passed, no answer was given to his question, much to his displeasure, but he refused to voice it. The dark air had dissipated and his jet black gaze reverted to pale blue as a sigh passed his lips. Interesting. This was the one time when the white-haired male had acted from sentiment, and it pertained to this ‘Mana’.

He needed to see who this Mana was. Perhaps he would be of good use to Kanda. The raven’s lips curved into a faint smirk as his eyes once again darkened to black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay - more characters ^.^ And Kanda needs to calm down. I mean...he did break his own face, literally...


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay - second chapter of the week and third of the story ^.^ Thanks to everyone who kindly supported this story so far and I do hope you continue to enjoy it.  
> Stuff happens quickly in this chapter, but nothing is meaningless~  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Allen’s gaze drifted over to Kanda for the briefest of moments before flicking back to the road. Despite the clear animosity that the doll had made no effort in hiding, he had opted to follow without a question, which was something Allen found himself grateful for.

However, the succeeding words of the raven caused a strange unease to creep into his chest and settle there. Paying no mind to it, he merely continued to drive. He rarely received opportunities to visit his non-blood relatives due to the fact that he was in the midst of his studies, but he had, prior, alerted Lavi of his absence. 

As they continued to speed down, their surroundings grew more rural. Silver eyes spared a fleeting glance at the time. Why did his university have to be so far from their estate? Of course, he knew it could be much worse, but at the moment, rational thinking was not a priority in his mind.

The situation was pertaining to Mana, after all, and Allen was willing to break speed limits for him. Especially with the knowledge of his current state. His jaw tightened as he prepared to once against step on the gas.

He started and yelped as a thumb and forefinger grabbed onto the skin of his cheek, pinching it none too gently. His silver gaze drifted over to the raven, who stared disinterestedly out the window, leaning against his other hand. 

“Moyashi. Slow down,” he snapped in a monotone. “You’re either going to die, or you’re going to run out of gas in the middle of nowhere.”

Sourly, Allen paid heed to the words of the raven, despite his not much better judgment. It was strange to hear such words from the mouth of the same person who had threatened to kill him at an antecedent time, but he knew that Kanda was right. 

Progressing at a decent pace, he finally chanced a longer look around himself, namely at his one lone passenger, who still remained apathetically staring out the window. No words passed his lips as his shoulders visibly relaxed.

Calm was the last thing he was aware he should feel, considering his impromptu leave and the fact that his accompaniment apparently wished to kill him, but he still couldn’t resist the sense of quietude that managed to settle in his chest beside the unsettlement. An odd coupling, but many strange things were occurring; Allen could not question it.

It was already mid-evening; at this rate, Allen doubted he could even hope to return in time for tomorrow’s classes without teeming with exhaustion. After all, he was rather mentally taxed for the day, and doubted he would receive much rest for the night.

“You never answered my question, moyashi.” 

“It’s Allen. What question?” The silver-eyed male glanced over at the doll, who still blatantly refused to face him.

“Who is this ‘Mana’?”

Allen frowned. He was certain that he was well out of Kanda’s auditory perception when he had received the alarming call, but the raven’s words disquieted him. He was aware of the phrase ‘walls have ears’, but he was certain that eavesdropping was an impossibility. 

The conflicting tranquility and trepidation within him was strange to feel, yet somehow, he found it rousing. Never had he experienced anything of the like prior to this moment. However, regardless of the two troubling emotions, the sense of alarm won over.

He needed to get to his family - to Mana - before anything more occurred without his knowledge. 

“Oi. Moyashi. Answer me.”

“He’s… He’s my adoptive father,” Allen finally responded. “And he’s always had very poor health…” The male drifted off. 

The weightiness of the silence that fell upon the two was enough for Allen’s head to lower, nearly enough to deprive him from sight of the road, but not quite. Allen’s jaw tightened as he once again stepped on the gas pedal in a reckless movement.

“Moyashi!” The annoyed statement cut through his mind once again as he shot down the highway, which was much clearer now that the evening rush had concluded.  His eyes flickered over to the raven, whose eyes finally turned to glare at him.

To his surprise, he found his hands steadying upon the wheel as he eased the car into a slower pace once more. He frowned. The movement of his hand hadn’t been of his own volition… His gaze drifted over to Kanda. The raven had once again turned away from him.

“Sorry,” he mumbled before blinking. “And for the last time, it’s Allen, BaKanda!”

“Che.”

Allen breathed out a sigh, leaning his weight against his arms. As little as he wanted to go at this pace, he had the audible reminder that his train of thought was unwise. Ironically enough, the implication was given by an alleged serial killer doll.

A chuckle left his lips. The phrase sounded oddly strange in his mind. It would seem oddly strange to any person, he supposed, save Kanda himself. In all likelihood due to the fact that Kanda was said alleged serial killer doll.

The sun hung low in the arid fields that they passed, signalling the nearing of dusk. At any rate, Allen perceived that he would arrive at his destination upon the early hours of the night. His eyes drifted downwards to steal a quick glance at the time.

He exhaled a breath that he had not been aware he was holding. It had grown silent again, courtesy of the certain lack of other vehicles upon the road as well as an oppressive silence that hung over the two within the car. 

He supposed that ought to be how it was initially anyway, since Kanda was a doll, but subsequently to witnessing his humanoid self, Allen found the weighty silence all but bizarre. Nonetheless, it was maintained for remainder of their traversing, which was far too long for the impatient Allen’s liking. 

As they drew near to a lone estate in the midst of some place that was notably far from the rest of civilization, the sky had already dimmed, and the barest flickers of starlight manifested themselves upon the muted blue. 

Slowing down considerably, he stepped out of the car and fished around his pocket for his keys before selecting one and opening the gothic gates that led into his family’s property. Needless to say, they were unequivocally well off. 

Pushing the gate open, he returned to the driver’s seat of his car and headed into the wide driveway, allowing it to shut behind him. His gaze drifted over to Kanda, who watched him now, as opposed to almost entirely ignoring him earlier. 

“I never took you for a rich brat,” the doll stated simply.

That was nothing new. With the exception of his friends and his useless Religious Studies professor, Allen had successfully kept the knowledge of his upbringing away from the general public. It was no secret that people who were materially in need of next to nothing were branded as brats or snobs.

Now that he thought of it, few people really knew him with the exception of his two closest friends and that professor. Of course they were aware of him, and interacted with him, but never truly bothered to know him more than what was deemed convenient.

But currently, that was not what ought to be in his mind. Parking his car within the courtyard, he pulled his keys from the ignition and stepped out of the car, promptly imitated by Kanda. His gaze drifted over the raven as the realization that he had brought a doll with him finally dawned.

It was strange to consider Kanda a doll, especially after witnessing him like this, but he still was, and Allen had little excuse as to why he had borne with him a doll. As Kanda strode over to him subsequently to shutting the door to the passenger’s seat, he made mental note that the raven seemed to have no intention of transforming either. That did not aid his case, taking into consideration the unconventional clothing that were his sole garments.

…he would consider that once it became an issue. 

Running through the courtyard and to the doors of the gothic estate, he knocked upon the doors and waited, ill at ease. He breathed out shakily as the door was opened, and attempted a misshapen smile at the sight of the one who had allowed him entrance.

“It’s good to see you again,” he greeted, stepping into the home and followed in close suit by the raven, who cast a disinterested glance around his surroundings.

The subject of his address, namely a man of fairly tall stature that too possessed dark locks, pulled into a loose ponytail at the base of his skull, merely nodded and shut the door behind him. 

“Likewise,” came the simple response, followed by the mildly curious glance that was spared in the direction of his companion. However, no words were spoken further, save the brief command of, “Follow me.” 

The direction was heeded as Allen watched the back of the man, trailing after him with apprehensive steps. A soft sigh passed his lips as his eyes trailed over the familiar setting that he currently walked through, making his way to where Mana was confined. It was abnormally quiet within the building, despite the fact that at least ten people resided within it.

As the door was opened to him, he nodded in thanks and stepped into the circular room. Its spaciousness only served to further dwarve the two figures that resided within, one upon a bed, the other at his side. Allen paused for a split-second before dashing towards the pair.

“Neah… Mana…!”

The one that was seated at the bedside glanced up at him and offered him a somewhat lopsided smile, raising a finger to his lips. “Shh… He’s asleep.”

Almost immediately, the white-haired male fell silent, slowing to a stop beside the two. His gaze drifted down to his adoptive father, only for it to widen. He was so pale… What had once been healthy skin was ashen and held an almost grey pallor.

“What happened…?” he hissed softly, more out of anxiety than anything.

“You know him… I’m not sure myself,” the man responded simply. “He’s been asleep for almost a week now. We weren’t going to tell you, because we didn’t want to disturb your studies, but earlier his vital signs almost flattened, so we were forced to let you know.”

Allen’s teeth found their way to his lip as he chewed on the flesh restlessly. Monochrome eyes drifted down to the figure upon the bed once again as he tentatively reached reached down. Laying his fingertips upon the cheek of the older male, he frowned.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” he questioned, his voice taut, but not angered.

“Your studies are important, Allen. Knowing this would only distract you.” 

“But this is more important!” the white-haired male argued. 

Neah sighed. “I know. That was a mistake.”

“Will he be all right…?” Allen questioned softly, his gaze returning to the man upon the bed, who looked much thinner than he had the last time Allen had the opportunity to see him.

“...”

At the silence of the younger twin, Allen’s jaw tightened. His gaze drifted up to the tracery that formed the ceiling, a frown creeping onto his lips. “When was the last time he’s been outside of the place…?” he questioned. Neah seemed somewhat taken aback by his inquiry, causing his frown to deepen slightly. The younger twin sighed.

“Not in a month, at most.” 

Allen was silent. He couldn’t respond for the tightness that had accumulated within his chest. He couldn’t even find the grace to hold the younger of the two twins at fault for the events that had occurred, and the fact that he had not been alerted sooner.

His eyes grew dry as he fixed them once again upon the valetudinarian older twin, laying painfully still upon the bed. His only form of reassurance was the fact that his sharp vision had caught sight of the slight but steady rise and fall of the man’s chest.

As a now familiarly nonpareil hand laid itself over the eyes of the apparent Mana, Allen looked up in slight surprise, to see Kanda standing over the man. He had near forgotten of the presence of the raven itself, and from what he could register, Neah had paid little to no attention to the fact that he had accompaniment until now.

“Who are you?” the younger of the two questioned, suddenly standing as his eyes narrowed slightly at the raven. 

It was clear that Kanda was ignoring him, that was perceptible enough. However, Allen felt a sense of alarm wash over him as the raven had laid his hand upon the eyes of the man whom he regarded as a father. Reaching forward, Allen moved with the intention of removing the hand.

Before he could, however, Kanda’s hand disappeared. The movement was followed in rapid succession by the opening of a pair of amber eyes. Allen’s eyes widened. 

“Mana…?”

“Allen?” The elder of the two twins called out in surprise before sitting up upon the bed. “Allen?” he repeated, reaching out to take the head of the white-haired male in both hands. “What are you doing here?”

Reaching out, the younger of the two twins gently pressed Mana backwards until his back met the headboard of the bed. “Don’t strain yourself!” Neah warned.

“Neah…?” Golden eyes drifted from Allen to Neah, then proceeded to trail over to Kanda. Eyeing him curiously, Mana’s hands lowered from where they rested upon Allen’s cheeks and onto his lap, folding themselves neatly. “And who are you…?” he questioned inquisitively. “Sorry,” he added somewhat wryly. “I know I look a little unpresentable right now…”

Allen could only stare, stunned, at the sight of the long-haired twin active. It was unnatural, considering the words of Neah stated that he had near faded only earlier that day. Not that Allen could complain; he would much rather find himself bewildered than lose Mana.

“...Kanda,” the raven finally responded after a long and somewhat discomfited silence. No words further left the lips of the scarlet-clad male. The silence that progressed was soon broken by Neah, much to Allen’s relief.

“I’ll go see to them, Mana,” the younger twin assured, placing pressure enough upon the shoulders of the long-haired twin to push him down upon the bed. “You go rest, or you won’t be fit to host them anyway.”

Mana smiled. “Don’t worry yourself over me.”

“Excuse me?” Neah retaliated almost immediately, his hands not moving from his brother’s shoulders as a somewhat irritated tick materialized upon his forehead despite the smile upon his features. “I’ll worry about you as much as I want - now go rest or you’ll exhaust yourself.”

“Am I under house arrest or something?” Mana sighed, but nonetheless relaxed. As Neah’s grip left his shoulders, he cast a teasing gaze at Allen. “I feel like Neah’s becoming my nagging wife now,” he informed, laughter hinted within his voice.

“Yeah right,” the younger retorted with a long-suffering sigh but a faint smile spared for the elder. Golden eyes drifted over to the pair. “But now he’s going to rest, so we should leave,” he added.

“....all right,” Allen agreed, glancing over at the raven who merely clucked his tongue. 

As they were ushered out, Neah glanced back into the room. “I’ll get you water,” he called back.

Shutting the door behind himself, he turned to the pair before him, a frown printed upon his lips. “What did you do to Mana?” he hissed out, loud enough to be heard by both Allen and Kanda, but quiet so as not to be overheard by Mana.

Allen nodded in concurrence, a faint frown present upon his own features. If anything, he had so many more questions, but he did not wish to impose anything upon the raven. After all, Kanda bore enough antagonism towards him as it was. He didn’t understand Kanda at all, but he hoped that he could in due time.

“Che.”

The scarlet-clad male turned his back to them and stalked down the hall, distancing himself from them. As he disappeared from sight, Neah glanced down at Allen, a sigh passing his lips.

“I’m not sure what it is, but something about him bothers me,” he reflected. Allen merely frowned and nodded slowly before beginning to stride down the hall after the raven. 

“I’ll go talk to him. You should probably go get Mana the things he needs…”

Without waiting further, Allen broke into a light run after the raven, who had begun to ascend one of the grand staircases within the estate. Reaching out, he caught hold of Kanda’s sleeve, unwittingly succeeding in tugging it further down his upper arm, and to the crook of his elbow. He was granted a none too amicable glare for his efforts.

“What do you want, moyashi.”

“...it’s Allen. And I just…” the shorter of the two paused, hesitating. “I just wanted to say thank you,” he finally stated, meeting the raven’s pale blue gaze.

“I didn’t do anything for you,” the raven responded, his gaze darkening.

“You did, even if you didn’t do it for me,” Allen responded with ease.

“Che.” Pulling his sleeve from the grasp of the white-haired male, Kanda continued to ascend the stairs, not halting upon the second floor, but continuing into one of the tower-like rooms and stepping onto the capacious stone balcony.

Unsurprisingly, Allen followed suit, being the admittedly stubborn person that he was. As he drew closer to the raven, the taller male abruptly whirled around, grabbing him by his collar and wrenching his body viciously, slamming it against the railing of the balcony.

Holding him there, the raven stared intently into his eyes, causing the monochromatic orbs to widen slightly as darkness flooded the vision of the long-haired male. His lips parted.

“Kanda…”

“I didn’t do anything for you,” the raven hissed once again, his pitch black gaze fixating the white-haired male. Taking a step forward, Kanda pushed the shorter farther back over the railing despite maintaining a strong grip upon his collar.

Finding that his feet had left the ground and that the sole thing that prevented him from plunging to his death was Kanda’s hand, he raised his own and laid it upon the limb, his gaze not wavering as it met the unnatural and unadulterated black that had once been white and azure.

“I wouldn’t care less if he died,” Kanda continued huskily, his gaze narrowing. “But if he’s dead, he’s of no use to me any more.” 

Allen’s eyes widened as his gasp around Kanda’s hand tightened, nails digging into the pale skin harshly enough to draw blood. His eyes, albeit wide, held the faintest hint of burning anger. “Don’t you dare touch Mana…!” 

His eyes widened further at the traces of satisfaction within the eyes of the long-haired male, but even that soon disintegrated. He found himself pushed further, and could feel the blood rush to his head as the raven scowled at him, visibly aggravated. 

“Why won’t you…” Kanda muttered under his breath before drifting off, his digits beginning to loosen their grip upon Allen’s collar.

In turn, the white-haired male’s hand tightened around Kanda’s. Within a few moments, however, the grip that he had upon the raven’s hand was released altogether, leaving him hanging precariously over the railing. Allen found his body relaxing, despite the hazardous position he was within.

“Live or die; choose one, moyashi,” Kanda grated, his grip loosening further. 

“That isn’t a very fair choice to force me to ma--”

“Che.”

Before Allen could finish his sentence, the fingers that encircled his collar loosened, releasing him on a direct course downward.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kanda has serious anger issues...not in the way one might think though~ and Allen should've just said yes or no... -.-


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay...chapter 4 is...not what I expected it to be... The story was initially supposed to be very different, but stuff happened, and this happened... So yeah ^.^"  
> Allen's going to die? Of course not. Of course not...  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Kanda’s gaze lightened at the sight of Allen’s monochromatic eyes widening at the realization that a majority of his weight was cast over the stone tracery that was the railing of the balcony, and would inevitably result in his plummeting to the not-so-soft ground below. 

His features curved into a smirk at the flash of shock that flared up within silver eyes. “I’m sparing you,” he informed simply, in hopes of riling up the white-haired male against him at least once before his being drew to an untimely, and most plausibly abrupt, death.

Within him, however, was born no satisfaction as the shorter male’s gaze transitioned precipitously from shock to a certain calm, something that could not have been typical. Perhaps it was in certain rare cases, but this was not the soothing sensation of being embraced by waters as one drowned, and to rely upon the chance that it would be a quick end was a risky option.

However, much to his chagrined surprise, the left hand of the white-haired male grabbed onto the apertures within the tracery of the railing, coal black nails digging into the stonework. Utilizing the momentum of his body, Allen swept upwards in an almost practiced arc, his body carrying itself over the railing and his feet planting upon the balcony once more.

“I think that for now I’ll have to choose life,” he responded to the earlier question. “I can’t let you do anything to Mana.”

Kanda’s lips curved into a scowl as his hand drifted to the hilt of his only trusted companion, which was, unfortunately, an inanimate sword. It was not natural for just anyone to perform such a manoeuvre at a moment’s notice with such little time to react. It was, plainly put, abnormal.

“Allen…! Allen - you’re back?” the voice possessing a female quality erupted unexpectedly from the staircase, causing both figures upon the balcony to freeze. 

Clucking his tongue, Kanda sheathed his sword. If Allen would choose to live, that would make his task all the more...interesting, to say the least. He would have to make do with what he could not change at the moment. Despite the dissatisfaction that weighed upon his chest like lead, he made no further advance.

“...Aunt Road?”

“A~llen!” A young girl, who could not be much older than twelve or thirteen spanned the expanse between the end of the balcony and indoors, proceeding to throw her arms around Allen’s neck and plant her lips upon his cheek with little hesitation. 

Kanda watched, somewhat dumbfounded, as the white-haired male nearly toppled off the balcony once again from the projectile that had him as a target. His eyes narrowed as the girl practically constricted the beansprout in an embrace. Allen didn’t seem to bear any resentment for the invasion of his personal space, however, merely ruffling her hair and smiling pleasantly at her.

“Aunt Road! I haven’t seen you in so long~” Allen chirped, as though nothing life-threatening had occurred mere moments before. At his words, a moue adorned her lips.

“Stop calling me ‘aunt’, Allen; it makes me sound old,” she complained, pinching his cheek and tugging slightly at it. He smiled.

“Then what should I call you…?” he questioned. She shrugged.

“Just Road is fine. Or sis if you want~”

“All right then, Road,” he quickly interjected. 

Kanda’s scowl remained present and prominent upon his lips as he watched the exchange. It had never occurred to him that others could have resided within the building, although it probably should have, considering the magnitude of the estate. 

He took the opportunity to observe the newcomer, whom Allen had courteously addressed as ‘aunt’ of all things. The girl was seemingly young, being shorter in stature than that beansprout himself and possessing a shock of spiky dark blue hair. Now familiar amber eyes settled upon dark skin in a manner that Kanda recognized from the previous three he had seen.

“Who’s this?” she questioned, her eyes drifting to meet with his own of pale blue. As he met her gaze, he could see her partially lidded eyes narrow further, a faint allusion to misgiving slipping into them. He spoke not a word, not desiring to trouble himself.

“This is Kanda,” Allen introduced easily before glancing over at him. His scowl refused to erase itself from his features as Allen motioned to the girl beside him. “Kanda, this is Road. She’s almost in her forties, by the way,” he added teasingly.

“It isn’t polite to say things like that about a girl!” she retaliated, grabbing Allen by the cheek and tugging it lightly once again, frowning pointedly at him.

“Sorry!” he responded placatingly, lifting his hands in a disarming movement.

Kanda frowned. To say that he wasn’t surprised by the newfound information would be a lie. Although her voice did not allude to her deceptive appearance, it was rather difficult for him to register the fact that she was of such an age.

“Che.” 

The girl frowned before releasing her hold upon Allen and stepping over to him. Reaching out, she poked his cheek with a frown. Her hand snapped back upon contact, and her eyes widened slightly. Faltering, she took a step back. 

“How do you know Allen?” she questioned, her eyes narrowed. 

The discomfort that was suspended within the air for brief moments was quickly dissipated by Allen, the white-haired male intent on redirecting the course of the conversation.

“I met him recently,” he responded vaguely. “He’s a little strange, but who isn’t?” Allen smiled at the raven. “I trust him.” 

Kanda’s eyes narrowed. That had to be one of the most absurd lies he had heard in a long while. He doubted that anyone whom he had nearly thrown from a three storey building would blatantly state their trust only mere minutes in succession.

The man was a liar; that was clear enough. No one could possibly possess the stupidity that would allow them to say such a thing after the antecedent event that was clearly committed voluntarily. It just…wasn’t normal. A scowl spanned his lips.

Despite his thoughts, there was a certain quality within the voice of the white-haired male that implied his words were truth. That thought alone caused Kanda to stop short and nearly be rendered stupefied for moments. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t human to act in such a manner. He prided himself on his ability to comprehend humans, but this was ridiculous. Ridiculous and perplexing.

“Che.”

Kanda scowled. If there was one thing that agitated him, it was being powerless to grasp the concept of anything. What he could not understand, he could not previse. Unpredictable things were one of the many that he hated with a burning passion, and Allen just happened to fall into that inexplicable category.

“If you say so,” Road finally responded with an apprehensive shrug. 

“I do,” Allen responded with a smile. “But Road, shouldn’t you be asleep right now…? You have work, tomorrow, don’t you?”

She shrugged. “I don’t have any cases to deal with right now. But since Mana’s doing better, I might have to get back to the city tomorrow anyway.”

“Oh, that’s good…” he sighed. “You not having clients, I mean. Every time I see your name in the paper, I swear I get a mini heart attack…” 

“What can I say? It doesn’t matter what city or country - I know every underworld,” she chuckled. A cheery grin spread over her young features. “And it takes surprisingly little to get what you want there.” 

“This is why I don’t want to get on your bad side,” Allen responded somewhat ruefully. She smiled and tugged playfully at his cheek once again.

“Aren’t you adorable~? Of course you wouldn’t get on my bad side - it takes a lot to do that, you know?” Her smile dissipated slightly and Allen tensed. 

“I know,” he quickly dismissed. “So how’s Uncle been doing?” he quickly changed the subject. “He didn’t seem in a very talkative mood earlier.”

“Which one?” Road inquired. 

“Tyki,” Allen replied. 

“Oh…” Road drifted off, her smile growing visibly muted. “He’s been a little distant lately. When we went to Portugal again before we heard about Mana, we stopped by that orphanage that he visited often when he was there. Remember that little boy that he always doted on?  I think Tyki was planning to adopt him, but when we got there, the directors told us that he died of his disease about a month ago.”

“I see…” Allen murmured softly, his gaze lowering for the briefest of moments. “I should apologize to him. I was only thinking about Mana, and I acted rude earlier.”

“Silly child~” Road sang , reaching up to poke his cheek once again, her distressed countenance disintegrating almost entirely. “He’s not going to be angry at you for that. But yeah - I think you should talk to him sometime.”

Kanda could only stare blankly. Where he belonged in the conversation, he wasn’t sure. In fact, it seemed as though, despite the fact that he was standing right before the two, they had near forgotten him entirely in favour of their current conversation.

The more he was discovering about Allen’s peculiar relatives, the more his instinct was telling him that the man was not normal. Not that he wasn’t already aware of such a thing, of course. His blue gaze fixed itself upon the two figures, opting to observe more so than listen.

The woman, despite seeming to have let down her guard with the white-haired male, showed the faintest signs of a ready stance within her shoulders and her legs. As he continued to watch, the briefest of glances was spared in his direction, proving his suspicion that he had not been entirely forgotten.

Her body was slender, with not a spare inch of flesh on her being, and her clothing would be something he could categorize into the punk culture. Her body showed no signs of having constantly dealt with strenuous work, but the calculating expression within her amber eyes hinted that she had little need to do so.

She would be someone that he would need to be wary around, he deduced. From her words as well, he doubted that he could let his own guard down. As long as he was within this place, eyes were upon him almost constantly - he was certain of it.

“Kanda?”

Finding a pale hand being waved before his face, he abruptly slapped it away with a scowl. “Che. What do you want?”

“We should probably get some sleep,” Allen replied easily, beginning to make his way out of the balcony and back into the tower before descending the staircase once more. “You should too, Road. You know how unexpected some of your cases are.”

“You’re too sweet, Allen~” the woman chirped, waving him off. “I’ll be fine. I think I might have some work I have to deal with before I retire~” 

“If you say so…”

Allen led the way, Kanda following at his back with a sedate pace. Kanda’s scowl dissipated into a neutral expression as he followed the shorter man through the halls and eventually to a door, which was opened to him. A moderately spacious expanse, which he assumed to be Allen’s bedroom was revealed to him.

“Sorry about that,” Allen apologized, glancing back at him. “I don’t get to see her often so…”

“Does it look like I care, moyashi?”

“It’s Allen!” 

“I don’t care about that either. You’re a degenerate.”

A thin eyebrow raised itself at the accusation. “That coming from you?”

“I don’t want to be grouped with you.”

“Then don’t call me a degenerate.”

“Why shouldn’t I? That was one of the stupidest lies I’ve ever heard.”

“What about?”

“You trust me? Don’t make me laugh, moyashi.”

“I already told you - it’s Allen! And I wasn’t lying.” 

“You expect me to believe you?”

“Yes…?”

“You really are stupid.” 

Allen sighed, raking his fingers through his hair with a frown. “I wasn’t lying to you, Kanda. I know I sound stupid, but I have my reasons.” 

“Che. You’re nothing but an idiot.” 

Standing, Kanda strode from the room, leaving Allen to himself. It was a pointless thing to contend about, but since he had stepped into this building, a sense of unease had overcome his senses. A bizarre feeling, considering the fact that he should have been the cause.

However, he found that the unease had left him on edge with every passing second. His eyes narrowed. Lifting his hand, he stared at it for fleeting moments before clenching it into a loose fist. It would not stop tensing - it was perturbing him far more than he was willing to admit.

Clucking his tongue, Kanda once again ascended the staircase. If he was fortunate, perhaps that woman who looked far too young already left the balcony. Save the intrusion of the white-haired male before, he had found that the place was rather lovely. Upon the northeastern turret, it overhung with clear view of the sky and the gardens of the estate. Now that he considered it, the man’s broken body wouldn’t have been a pleasant addition to that scene. He’d save it for another time.

Much to his pleasure and convenience, the balcony was empty, granting him the opportunity to be alone. He frowned, tilting his head back to view the sky. Even now, his body had shown no sign whatsoever of stiffness or any other impediment. 

It was only another addition to the perturbation that had slipped into his cold body. The fact that he had only seemed to grow more animate regardless of what he did, or threatened to do, to Allen. He scowled. Perhaps being alone with his thoughts wasn’t such an ideal scenario.

His gaze scanned the star-strewn sky. It never ceased to amaze him: how the most beautiful things were not the things made by human hands, but that which existed before humans polluted the planet. Stars were only one of those many beautiful things.

Whatever was made by humans was in mimicry of something in some way or another. It needed inspiration from something that already existed. But what was not made from what had already been made was what was most stunning in his eyes.

Reaching up towards the sky, he viewed the contrast between his pale hand and the dark night. His skin was much too pale, almost sickly in the faultiness of its unrealistic complexion in his mind. Each digit of his hand was perfect in shape, dimension and length, but to him, it was the perfection that flawed him the most.

His hand clenched into a loose fist as it lowered back to his side. He hated the understanding that  he was admired for the lack of defects on his person. Humans were vile creatures - they truly were. But… even if that were so, he still found the actions of his more recent owner unaccountable by any form of human logic. The fact that the man had remained alive the second longest  upon seeing him as he was did not aid in his regard.

His breaths softened until they were barely audible as he found himself, for the first time, questioning both the safety and the sanity of his latest owner. His lips curved into a frown. 

The night had a long while before it waned. Kanda found the silence that accompanied it to allow him into a state of tranquility. Unlike the city or the suburbs, there was no occasional rumbling of the odd car engine as a vehicle drove past the property. It was quiet. 

His frown deepened. Something was off. The quietness was pleasant, but it did not seem right. Unfolding his fan, he raised it to his eye level, listening in complete silence. His gaze narrowed at nothing in particular as he waited. 

Folding the fan as the sound of a creaking door entered the auditory perception of anyone who was still awake at this hour, Kanda whirled around and broke into a brisk walk, descending the staircase as quickly as his body and clothing would allow.

Following the sound, erratic footsteps soon made themselves known to his sharp ears. Frowning, his pace slowed as he waited, eyes narrowed at the long hall that was stretched out before him. His misgiving was justified - he knew. But no one would heed his thoughts, so he hadn’t bothered revealing.

Running over to the figure who stumbled through the hall, hand against the wall so as not to collapse, he scanned the wounds that were strewn over the dark skin, and the torn, bloodstained clothing. Clucking his tongue, he slung the man’s arm over his shoulders and began to walk.

“Who…?” the man, whom Kanda had identified as the ‘Neah’ that Allen had spoken of earlier, voiced his apprehension raspily, breaking into a coughing fit and spitting blood onto his clothing. Kanda’s gaze drifted over to him and narrowed.

“Shut up or you’ll lose more blood,”  he snapped. “You’ve made a pretty pincushion of yourself.”

Truly, Neah’s body was littered with unsightly gashes, enough to effectively inhibit his movement. The most distinct by far were the fact that both his eyes were sealed shut, blood leaking from the dark eyelids and spilling over his dark face like tears. The other injuries that were large enough to cause Kanda trepidation were the ones upon his neck and chest. Clearly, they were meant to kill him off. It almost seemed like he had been pinned to a wall as a decoration.

Gaping wounds had been torn ruthlessly through his body in almost impeccable lines that formed a cross from his neck, down his abdomen, and across his arms. The injuries seemed to have drained him of his blood, as whatever of the substance remained was congealed upon his body in a sickly picture of crusted blood and almost shredded skin that hung from his glistening flesh. His legs had not been pierced through, but still bore the brunt of the flaying, causing Kanda's brow to furrow slightly.

“You!” Neah rasped, breaking into another fit of painful coughs. 

“Che. Yes, me - now shut up or you’ll kill yourself from blood loss,” he responded none too gently. Why he even bothered, he didn’t know. However, if there was something within this place that could discomfit even him, it was a threat, and he wouldn’t take it lying down.

“Where…?” the younger twin questioned, his voice nothing but a whisper.

“Library,” Kanda responded simply, guiding the man to said area within another tower of the estate. He would question the man later. For now, what mattered was patching him up.

Upon arriving at the circular three storey room, Kanda laid the man upon the floor and turned on the lights. His frown deepened. 

“Che. What did you do,” he stated, kneeling down beside the twin. Even upon their short travel to the library, the man had not opened his eyes. Perhaps the blood had sealed them shut or--

Lowering his hand, he carefully pried one of the two eye sockets open. His body tensed at the sight that met his eyes. It was only then that the sound of erratic, pained breaths truly did register in his system. He clucked his tongue. This was hopeless. Shutting the empty eye socket, eyes having been gouged out and wounds that doubtless traced to his brain visible, he frowned. His hand trailed down to the wounds that were strewn over the remainder of the man’s body. 

“You’re going to die,” he stated simply. It was the truth, and nothing was within his ability to alter the fact. 

“No…kidding,” Neah rasped, coughing once again. “I’m…surprised I’m not…dead yet.”

“Che. How many times do I have to tell you to shut up?” Kanda questioned. “All you humans are so unreliable. You always end up hurting each other in some way or another.”

Kanda was aware that Neah was one of the people that Allen must have held dear. He referred not to the wounds that someone had inflicted upon the man, but the fact that, in dying, he would hurt many more people. However, this was doubtless a painful end.

The least he could do was soothe it somehow. He frowned, and reached into his sword case. From the scarlet case, he pulled a bamboo flute. Staring down at the man, he sighed. “You won’t tell me who did this.”

Neah was silent, but his breaths and the heaving of his chest signalled his awareness. Kanda clucked his tongue and raised the flute to his lips. 

As his fingers danced over the apertures of the handmade instrument, an airy melody drifted through the air. His gaze was partially lidded, and fixated upon the invalid man that lay, unable to move, below him. His action seemed to lull the man into a state of calm, which was good enough for the raven. It was definitely an improvement from dying screaming.

As he continued to play, the trills drifted through the air between them quietly, causing Kanda himself to relax somewhat as well. For now, the perpetrator behind all of this was not of his concern, and he would keep it as such. After all, he had known this man for a few minutes at best, and they were not on the best of terms anyway.

He blinked as the younger of the pair of twins coughed once again. “Ka...nda…” Neah whispered, his breaths growing forced and harsh. “Tha…t’s your…name, right….?”

Despite the question, the raven refused to cease playing. Lowering so that he was bent over the male, Kanda listened to the words that barely made it from the lips of the man.

As a last breath rattled from Neah’s lips, Kanda’s hands lowered to his sides, flute in a vice grip within the appendages of his right. As he remained knelt over the still body, his eyes darkened, his shoulders holding the faintest tremble. As moments passed, a black substance began to ooze from the completely onyx orbs, dispersing around both he and Neah like sinister smoke.

His blank, black gaze remained fixed upon the body beneath him as the dark atmosphere about him thickened, only multiplying as more of the matter spilled from his eye sockets.

“Kanda…?”

Almost robotically, his neck craned to the side, his near demented gaze, still exuding the smoke-like blackness, fixated the white-haired male standing at the wall opening that led into the library, eyes widened in shock.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaaaah Neah... -.-" I'm sorry, Neah... you weren't supposed to die...but..why didn't you tell us who killed you? And Allen is about to misinterpret the situation big time...?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to a not-so-well-written chapter 5 but ah well -.- So the first person dies and nobody in the family screams because for some strange reason everyone is used to grisly, bloody stuff...? Sounds legit ^.^  
> Who killed Neah? The same person that killed the next victim of course ;) Allen's logic is flawed, but even he believes in it.  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Allen frowned, rolling over upon his bed once again. For the dead of night, there was an awful amount of vague noise succeeding each other in a manner that made it seem as though something was occurring. Something that was piquing at his interest the more he listened.

Groaning softly, he sat up abruptly and stared at the door of his room. Against his better judgment, he slipped from the bed and stepped over to the door. Leaving the room, he made his way quietly down the hall, following the faint sounds to their source.

His eyes were quick to register and grow accustomed to the light that led to what he identified as the library of the estate. He frowned, and continued to step quietly through the hall, He blinked as his foot made contact with something unpleasantly wet. 

His gaze drifted downwards, only to catch sight of a substance he was all too familiar with, clear even in the dim light that dappled the hall from the library. His breath caught in his throat and he broke into a sprint for the remainder of the distance, stopping abruptly at the entrance of the library.

His eyes widened in shock at the macabre sight before his eyes. His skin grew cold at the scene as he found himself frozen at the entrance, unable to advance or flee despite desperately wishing to within his mind. 

“Kanda…?” he whispered, softly unsure if he wanted the raven to be aware of the fact that he was present. Nonetheless, as the sable gaze that seemed to weep darkness itself turned to him, he found himself fixated in the most inexplicable of ways.

Stiffly, he approached the pair upon the ground. As he did so, he could feel the permeating darkness surround his body, penetrating his skin and virtually sinking into his bloodstream. His eyes widened. 

It hurt. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt… Stopping short, he stared down at Neah, his gaze wavering. His even breaths were quick to become erratic pants as his blood began to boil within his body. It hurt…! His eyes widened, droplets of water playing at their corners. 

What was that emptiness within his chest? He hadn’t felt it in a long while; he had nearly forgotten what it was. He had near forgotten what despair was. But never before had it been so irrepressible - so overwhelmingly strong.

It burned, yet it left him feeling empty. It weighed down on his body like lead, but somehow left his insides light in the most unpleasant of sensations. It was making each breath he took a struggle, as though he was  drowning, but it was ever so fiery… He hated it.

Silver eyes drifted over to the raven, who was staring at him. Due to the lack of light within his gaze, Allen could not discern what emotion was running through the doll, but he had little time to ponder as he was roughly pushed back towards the library’s entrance.

“Get away from me!” 

He drew in a sharp breath, grabbing onto the corner of the wall before he was thrown completely off balance, his eyes drifted over the scene before him. As he watched, another emotion settled within his chest, leaving him breathless, and not in the desirable way.

“What did you do to Neah?” he questioned, his voice tight, and nearly inaudible.

A single index finger laid itself over Kanda’s lips as Allen watched, his gaze still surrealistically dark and the wisps of blackness drifting around his being. “Let him sleep,” he rasped huskily, slipping the bamboo flute into his obi before lowering to lift the lifeless body from the floor.

“...don’t touch him,” Allen murmured, his voice shaking as he stepped forward once again, immersing himself in the blackness as he retrieved the body from Kanda’s hands. He shivered at the distressing sensation of cold skin and crusted blood that whelmed his senses. 

It was near enough to make him nauseous, but he ignored the feeling. Turning away from Kanda, he began to step out of the library. As he did so, the hall brightened, dying the building in a sickly, dim light, his silver gaze drifted back.

Kanda had made no move to pursue him, merely standing enshrouded by that strange darkness. Allen’s grip upon the leaden body within his arms tightened, as did his jaw. He had dismissed the possibility of Kanda’s identity as a killer entirely, but now… The raven hadn’t even made any attempt to deny what he had seen.

He wasn’t certain of what he should be feeling. At the current moment, he merely felt…numb. As he trudged through the corridors, his grey stare traced the walls of the estate in search of the one person who he wanted to reveal this to the least, but would need to see before anyone else.

Biting his lip, his eyes sealed themselves shut as he slowed to a halt before the double doors. Swallowing the aching bitterness that settled within his throat, he edged closer to the door and pushed it open with his side, Neah still held firmly within his arms.

Despite the proof lying within his own hands, he  couldn’t battle the numbness that whispered deceptive lies into his ears telling him that none of this was real. It was all merely a nightmare. All he needed to do was awaken…

“Mana…” His voice sounded hollow, even to his own ears as his eyes trailed from Neah’s disfigured face to Mana’s abnormally pale one. He winced. The newfound facts would not be good for the older twin’s health, but it was better than leaving him to discover later. Allen himself was proof of that fact. 

“A...llen…?” the long-haired male murmured softly, long lashes fluttering as golden eyes revealed themselves.The white-haired male immediately averted his eyes. 

“Mana…I don’t know what happened, but Neah…” he drifted off. 

The older twin’s eyes immediately snapped open as he sat up abruptly. The movement was followed by a long groan and a rubbing of the temples, as well as his slumping back against the headboard. Allen lowered his eyes to Neah’s cold form, and refused to lift them.

“Neah? Neah…?” Mana whispered, his voice taut with horror. As Allen chanced the briefest of glances in the direction of his adoptive father, he winced. Mana’s hand moved to cover his mouth as thin trails of transparent water created rivulets down his pale skin from eyes that stared in disbelief. “Ne...ah…?”

“I…” Allen drifted off. He tensed as he was relieved of his burden, his eyes widening. 

“Neah… Neah don’t...leave…” the older twin whispered, holding the cold corpse to his own strangely emaciated form. “I need you, Neah… I...need…” the sentence ended in a quiet sob as the man merely allowed his tears to fall onto cold skin.

Swallowing, Allen slowly made his way to the door, prepared to leave. As he laid his hand upon the brass handle, however, he was stopped.

“Allen…” 

Without turning to face the man, Allen watched his hand, which constricted the handle until his pale knuckles took on a complexion like unto snow. “Yes, Mana…?”

“Who...did this to him…?” the older twin whispered softly, his tone inscrutable. Allen gritted his teeth.

Every fibre of his being ached, and his tongue was prepared to utter the name of the only person that it could possibly be, but something within him restrained his lips from opening. Wrenching the handle of the door downwards, he gritted his teeth.

“I...don’t know. I’ll...go talk to Road, Mana… You just please rest…”

He tensed. He couldn’t leave Mana. There was a chance that whoever it was would target the older of the two twins next. And if it was indeed Kanda… Allen found himself leaning against the door as a weary sigh passed his lips. He wasn’t certain of what he should be thinking. The only thing he was certain of, was that he wasn’t frightened by the situation - only reasonably angered.

“And, if anything happens, please call for help,” Allen continued, glancing back at the man.

“I’m sorry you had to come home to this, Allen…” the long-haired male murmured. Allen merely shook his head and left the room without so much as a glance back at the pair of twins. He was certain that his dry eyes would not maintain their state for much longer if he did indeed spare a fleeting look.

Traversing through the main hall, he gazed dully out of the windows, eyeing the brightening sky with a disinterested gaze. Breathing out a soft sigh, he flashed a brief glance towards the library, silently debating with himself on whether he should return to where Kanda was or not. If he did, he would be able to keep an eye on the raven, but at the moment, he didn’t want to face him.

Redirecting the course of his footsteps, he instead opted to head back to his bedroom. Perhaps, if he was fortunate, he could regain the hours of sleep that he had been deprived of over the near loss of Mana, and the inexplicably sudden loss of Neah.

It was strange - how he couldn’t feel anything over Neah. Perhaps it was the initial shock. Regardless of the reason, the feeling of guilt flooded into his chest. Swallowing it, he entered his room. He really needed to rest… Unfortunately, his body refused to comply with him.

Shutting the door of his bedroom behind himself, he leaned against it, staring blankly at the hardwood floor. His lips curled into a mirthless smile as he began to chuckle, then laugh in a manner that just fell short of deranged. He raised his hand to his eyes, covering them.

Of course it was a nightmare. It was a lie that was fabricated by his mind. If he awakened, he would be in his home again, near to the campus of his university, studying and spending time with his friends… Without a cursed doll or a brutally murdered family member… 

Allen sank to the floor, still laughing distortedly as hot droplets of water created streamlets down his smiling face, their source hidden by a sinuous, disfigured, red hand with nails the colour of coal. His laughter grew strained as his breaths became laboured.

His laughter soon transitioned into angered sobs that wracked his slender frame with little mercy. The hand covering his eyes trailed into his hair, tugging ruthlessly at it due to the fist that his hand had clenched itself into. A scream of outrage and confusion passed his lips as, for the first time, he allowed the heavy emptiness of despair flood his body.

Before he could register much else, he found his door abruptly thrown open. Biting his lip, he forcefully silenced himself, his gaze trailing over to the cause of the uninvited intrusion. His eyes widened before narrowing at the raven that stood glaring down at him.

“You sound like a girl, moyashi. That and you’re wasting your breath,” the taller male snapped, shutting the door behind himself and leaning against it, preventing Allen from any escape. 

“It’s...Allen!” he retaliated, pulling himself to his feet and dropping onto a seated position upon his bed, returning the glare tiredly. “Don’t tell me what to do with my breath…”

“Then don’t run off screaming in this place for no damn reason - I’d think you’re the next one being murdered,” Kanda retorted brusquely. 

“By who - you? Besides, why should you care? You’re a cursed doll who murders their owners.”

The sinking feeling in Allen’s chest revealed to him that he may have overstepped his boundaries, as the silence that progressed between them burdened the already heavy air, and no sign was given that it would be broken soon. He winced.

“So you’re the same, then,” Kanda stated simply, crossing his arms over his chest. His piercing blue gaze fixated Allen in place, discomfort ebbing gradually over his body the more he was exposed to it. The lips of the white-haired male opened and shut, but no words left them. Kanda scowled. “Is that it? Are you the same as everyone else? No - that isn’t it.”

Allen found that he could not meet the intense stare of the long-haired male, whose gaze remained unblinking. Silently, he wondered if it would be within his right to question the sanity of the doll. Then again, perhaps not, considering that he was the one that had purchased it and apparently brought it to life.

“What’s wrong with you,” the raven hissed in irritation, his glare abruptly averting from Allen, much to the white-haired male’s relief. However, the question only roused further confusion within his mind.

“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with  _ you _ ?!” he retorted.

“So many things,” the raven responded easily, rolling his eyes in annoyance. “I thought you could tell. Now stop asking stupid questions and answer me!”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

“Don’t act stupider than you already are! You must have had some background information about me before you decided to be stupid and get me!” 

“All I know is that you’re a cursed doll that kills its owners and you’re going to kill me eventually!” Allen groaned, crossing his arms over his chest and falling onto his back upon the bed.

“And they say that psychologists are supposed to be smart,” the raven sighed irritably.

“I’m still studying!” Allen yelped. He blinked. He hadn’t realized it, but the exchange with Kanda had relieved him of the unwanted feeling that he had experienced earlier. His lips curved into the slightest of smiles as a faint chuckle passed his lips.

“...maybe you should go see a therapist,” Kanda stated, frowning at him. 

“Sorry… I just - you’re just…” 

“You really aren’t like the others,” the raven sighed. 

Allen opened his mouth to retort, but before he could, the sound of his phone ringing cut through the air. Stretching, he grabbed the electronic device from his side table and answered the call. “Hello…?”

“Oh - hey, Allen-chan~ Just checking up on you! Is your dad okay?” The distinct voice of a certain redheaded brainiac that went by the name of Lavi reached his ear.

“Oh…” The white-haired male frowned. “Yes… He’s fine,” he responded. “But I might not be returning for a small while, so would you tell the professors for me?”

“No problem~” the redhead chirped. “When will you be back?”

“I’m not sure - a week at best, maybe?”

“And how’s the doll?” Lavi questioned.

“I don’t have regrets buying him, Lavi,” Allen responded confidently. “He’s beautiful, and he can’t possibly be cursed.”

“....I guess you were right, then,” the redhead sighed. 

“Told you~” 

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway, if anything happens, let me know, okay?” 

“All right. See you around,” Allen called.

“Yeah - see you,” Lavi responded before hanging up the call. Allen breathed out a sigh and slipped his phone into his pocket before rolling over to face Kanda, who still leaned against the door of his bedroom, a sullen frown plastered upon his features.

“How long are you going to insist on calling me that?” the raven hissed, an irked tick manifesting upon his forehead. 

“Calling you what? Kanda?”

“No, baka moyashi. The other thing.”

“...beautiful?” Allen ventured. The deepening of the raven’s scowl only served to confirm his suspicions. He shrugged slightly and flashed the raven a smile. “You are, though,” he pressed. “Regardless of what you say.”

“Che. You’re an idiot.”

“That won’t make me change my opinion of you.”

“And what if I told you that I killed your relative?” Kanda challenged, his eyes narrowing further. Allen frowned, falling silent, and provoking a mirthless smirk onto the pale lips of the raven-haired doll. “Not so quick to speak now?”

Lowering his head so that his bangs shielded his eyes from view, Allen frowned, his lips parting. “...I’d say you’re a liar.”

“...what.”

“I trust you,” Allen responded, raising his head to stare at the raven, who seemed, at the very least, slightly stunned by his defiant gesture and words. “You only kill your owner. If anyone will die by your hand, it’s me. Neah wasn’t your owner, so you had no obligation to kill him.”

“....that’s messed up logic, moyashi.” 

“It’s Allen! And yes, I know, but it’s true, isn’t it? You didn’t kill him.”

“How do you know that?” the raven quickly interjected, his frown deepening. 

“I trust you,” Allen responded, slipping off the bed and stepping over to the doll. Raising his hands, he took the head of the raven in both, tilting it down to meet his eyes. “I could feel your despair,” he continued, his tone completely serious. “And it’s making me realize my own again.”

“If you expect me to understand you, I’ll have to tell you I don’t speak stupid,” Kanda snapped.

“I mean it, Kanda. I haven’t felt despair in a long while. I’m getting angry again too. With you and with this situation. I’m going to find out who did that to Neah, and I’ll get rid of them myself. But until then, don’t kill me.”

“Who in their right mind says that.”

Allen smiled, lowering his hands from the jaw of the raven. “I sound crazy, don’t I,” he concurred. 

“You do,” Kanda agreed.

Stepping away from the raven, Allen returned to the bed, sitting down upon its edge and kicking his legs slightly in a childish movement. His mind reeled at his own thoughts. Kanda must have been correct concerning his stupidity - he could barely piece together the words that had elicited from his own lips.

His gaze trailed over to that of the raven, only to find that seemingly permanent frown still imprinted upon pale features and unblinking eyes. He should have been unsettled by the atypically impeccable visage, and even then, Kanda’s face should have been one of the lesser things that worried him when it came to the doll. He couldn’t find himself fearing it, however. Even with the knowledge of the raven’s goal, he wouldn’t think of selling him.

“Why do you hate me?” he questioned once again, his gaze growing distant in thought.

“Why don’t you hate me,” Kanda retorted bluntly.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Yes I have - multiple times.”

Allen sighed. Even with Kanda’s previous answers, he still remained dissatisfied. They did not answer what he wanted to know. All his responses were pointlessly vague. He doubted he could judge, considering his own answers couldn’t possibly have been much better.

“Now answer my question,” the raven persisted, eyes narrowing into a glare.

“I don’t know,” Allen responded. “I really don’t. I know why I should, but I just can’t…”

“That doesn’t help.”

Allen opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the shocked shrieks entered his auditory perception. Exchanging a brief look with the taller male, they burst through the doors, running after the source of the sound. 

It took far too little time to discover the cause of all the noise, as another pair of twins ran through the halls, eyes widened in thinly masked incredulity. Skidding to a stop abruptly before him, the pair pointed to the kitchen. 

“In there!” Devit hissed before beginning to move once again. 

“We have to get Road,” Jasdero continued, following after his older twin. 

Two pairs of frowns deepened as Allen led the way to the kitchen, stopping short, his mouth opening but no sound passing his lips.

If this was what transpired in slaughterhouses, it was near enough to make him swear off meat. The body hung from hooks in the wall that tore vicious holes into the flesh of the man. Almost his entire abdomen and arms were nothing but glistening red flesh. It was as though someone had intended to butcher him for meat, but hadn't managed to complete the job in time.

Allen swallowed the bitter taste that was crawling sedately up his throat, and instead drew closer to the figure that he could recognize to be only one person. 

“Ty..ki…?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear... That's all I have to sum up how I feel right now...


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter 6, lovely readers ^.^ This story is apparently longer than I first intended. But all the more fun to write~ minus all the murder and stuff... all right - that's pretty fun to write too, honestly ^.^"  
> Tyki is dead...? Who's next? And why is Kanda acting strange?  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Kanda scowled as the identity of the figure was revealed to him as the man that had opened the door for them the antecedent night. He frowned and stepped closer to the man, inspecting him carefully before reaching out for one of his arms.

“He’s alive,” he stated simply. “But he needs a doctor.”

“Doctor!” Allen exclaimed, pulling his phone from his pocket and dialling a number, having come out of his trance-like state.

Clucking his tongue, Kanda took one arm, frowning at the blood that stained his clothing at the action, and removed it from the hook that fastened it brutally in place. His gaze drifted over to Allen, who had sidled away, presumably to speak with the person he had called.

The raven glanced down at the arm in his grasp, steadily oozing blood from the puncture wound that been freed of the only thing keeping the crimson fluid inside his body. Grimacing, Kanda moved to the man’s leg, allowing his arm to flop uselessly by his side.

“Oi. Say something if you’re not dead,” he stated bluntly, detaching the leg from the hook within the wall, his gaze narrowed at the face of the man whose head hung limply, chin nearly touching his chest. The familiar sight of blood that took the form of poetically gruesome tears met his gaze. 

“Don’t…trouble yourselves be...cause of…me…”

Kanda clucked his tongue and removed the leg from the  hook, allowing that too to hang uselessly as he moved to the next arm. “Che. Tell that to the stupid moyashi,” he replied tersely. “I don’t think he’ll give you any choice.”

Fortunately for the man, there were no wounds in any vital area, namely his neck or his abdomen. If anything, Kanda found himself pitying the man. It was clear that, as opposed to Neah, Tyki was to suffer for longer instead of being granted a quick passing.

At least Kanda himself never toyed with his owners. He may have been a murderer, but he was not a sadist. Scowling, he pulled the arm free, resulting in his scarlet garment being dyed further with crimson. 

As he progressed with his self-imposed task, footsteps running towards the kitchen alerted him of the arrival of three - that other pair of people whose appearance fit right in with the rest of Allen’s family, but whom he had not seen or heard of prior. 

He frowned. He had seen enough to know that the presences of more people could not possibly result in anything good. As little as he wished to care, the fact that someone could end Allen before he could did not rest easy in his mind. What that would mean for he himself, he didn’t know.

“Tyki!” the angered cry erupted from the lips of the woman with the deceptive appearance as she ran up to him, stopping just short in order to allow Kanda to complete his work. “Who did this? I’ll find them…” she grated. “I’ll kill whoever did this!” 

To his dismay, as he removed the man’s leg from the hook, he sank to the floor. The grotesque sound of ripping flesh echoed through the kitchen as more of the hooks revealed themselves having been holding his back. 

The loose shreds of skin and flesh rubbed against the wall, staining it in crimson. The sight was enough for the  other two present to turn their backs to the scene entirely.

“Tyki…” Road attempted to lift him off the ground, but much to her dismay, he was much taller than she, which resulted in her action not aiding in his predicament. Frowning, Kanda once again took the man’s arm and slung it over his shoulders before wrapping an arm around his waist to support him.

Glancing over at Allen, Kanda sighed before trailing his blue gaze over to her. “He’ll live,” he assured. That is, he’d live if he didn’t die from blood loss first. Although none of his vital points had been injured, he was bleeding profusely, and that did not bid him any good tidings. From the looks of it, it didn’t seem as though the flow of blood would coagulate and cease anytime soon.

“There must be bandages somewhere,” Allen muttered, somewhere behind him, as he searched around the cupboards for a medical kit. Kanda frowned, eyes trailing back to the man that he supported, who was already half-dead and most likely in an immense amount of pain.

Aside from that, Kanda was well aware of the three pairs of suspicious glaring that he was receiving, courtesy of the two males who didn’t seem much older than Allen, and that woman. Pointedly, he opted to ignore them, instead remaining still for the sake of the man he supported.

After what seemed like hours, Allen managed to retrieve a few rolls of bandage, and returned to him. 

“Road, would you take it from here for now?” he questioned. “I sent for some help… I think it’d be best if he left the estate for a bit until we can get to the bottom of this…”

Taking the initiative, Kanda lowered Tyki to the tiled floor, laying him flat for Road to bandage and hopefully staunch the blood that still seeped from the open wounds.

Stepping back, he glanced over at the white-haired male, who seemed unusually calm considering that one death and another almost-death had occurred within at least an hour of each other. He frowned. That only deduced one possibility, and that was that the one behind it was still within the estate, if not close by.

“So what did you do,” he muttered, the statement directed towards the shorter male. Allen frowned.

“I called my friend,” the shorter of the two responded. “He said he would try and get hold of a doctor we know. They promised not to tell anyone…” he drifted off. 

Kanda frowned. This was not what he had bargained for when this beansprout had given him life. What’s worse, he found himself beginning to care about the outcome of this entire charade. Scowling, he raised his piercing blue gaze to the sight of Road tugging the bandages firmly around Tyki’s abdomen.

“I thought you guys were at college too…?” Allen ventured, the questioning words directed towards the other two within the kitchen who were blatantly avoiding the body that stained the kitchen in now rusted red, lest they trigger the wrath of the woman that was patching him up. Kanda listened attentively despite not moving his gaze.

“Came back when we heard about Mana,” the older of the other pair of twins responded with a shrug, resting his arm against the shoulder of the younger.

“We weren’t expecting this when we came to get breakfast, though,” the blond added, motioning to Tyki. 

“They’re studying to be forensic pathologists,” Allen whispered over to Kanda. The raven rolled his eyes. Everyone in this building was far too used to seeing copious amounts of  blood in some way or another. The only one of them that he couldn’t comprehend, however, was the very one standing at his side.

Kanda strode forward once again, and lifted the man off the ground, staring at his face once again. His breaths were unhealthily thin, signalling to the raven that he was in dire need of medical attention. Unfortunately, of all the people in this place that were accustomed to blood, they certainly were not medical majors.

Breathing out an irritated sigh, he began to heft the man out of the kitchen. “Put him somewhere more comfortable,” he muttered half-heartedly. 

When no one made any move to stop him, he left the kitchen and began to head to where he had seen the living room or grand hall or whatever these rich people called it. 

“You can’t see any more, can you,” he stated bluntly. The body within his grip had nary the strength to even tense at his statement. 

“...nothing goes...past you…” the man responded breathily, causing Kanda to wonder if striking up conversation was the wisest of ideas. 

“Che. Well you’re getting ousted for the time being, so you’d better not bleed to death before they come to get you,” he replied. “This’ll end up driving that moyashi mad.” Him and his big mouth. He couldn’t recall the last time he had spoken so much. 

“How...do you know Allen?” Tyki questioned as Kanda sat him down upon one of the many couches littering the much too large hall. Morning had waned, resulting in golden light flooding the large-windowed room. It burned at Kanda’s eyes.

“None of your business,” he responded snappishly. 

He received no response from the long-haired man, who seemed intent on remaining still so as not to reopen his wounds that had already soaked through his bandages. Kanda could only hope that whoever Allen had called was smart enough to bring the doctor or this man would be dead before they knew it.

Leaning against the armrest of the couch, he picked at the blood staining his sleeves, noting that it had managed to splatter onto his obi and his flute as well. He frowned. How long it would take to get rid of the stains, he didn’t know.

“Who did that to you?” he finally questioned, not looking up from his soiled sleeves. For an initial few moments, he received no response, instead only husky breathing that did not speak of good fate.

“...I don’t know,” the response came. 

Kanda clucked his tongue. “Che. Why - because whoever it was gouged out your eyes before you could see?” The fact that the one behind it all seemed to have a penchant for eyes was mildly disturbing. 

“You have...quite the silver tongue…” Tyki responded, his tone somewhat wry before his voice broke off in a bout of harsh coughs.

“Neah’s dead and you were supposed to die,” Kanda continued, ignoring the sarcastic comment. Almost immediately, the silence fell upon both of them like a boulder. Kanda clucked his tongue. If the man was not aware of Neah’s departure, that meant they had been victimized within minutes of each other. At this rate, there may have been some other body somewhere else that they had failed to locate.

A sinking suspicion had arisen within his chest as to who could possibly be behind the crimes. He would see to it that this would end before it gathered public attention. If anything, he doubted that anyone dwelling within the estate or possessing any relation to it whatsoever would appreciate attention.

“Neah is dead?” Tyki repeated incredulously. 

“Che. Yes.”

Once more, silence reigned. If Kanda had to place a word on it, leaden would be an appropriate description, he decided. After all, the two were family. He himself could not possibly begin to be as affected as the others present concerning Neah’s passing… not that he cared.

In the periphery of his mind, he silently wondered just how many speed limits would need to be exceeded on the way to this impractically secluded place. His gaze drifted over to the man, who seemed awfully calm for someone who was most likely in an excruciating magnitude of pain. Everyone in this family was bizarre, he decided. It would be too tiring to question them further.

How long he waited, he didn’t know, but when a familiar white-haired beansprout ran through the entrance of the hall, the sun was nearing its zenith within the sky. 

“He’s in here!” Allen called back to a pair of figures that stepped through the intimidatingly large building tentatively. 

The first that Kanda identified was a man that could not possibly be a student like Allen. Perhaps he was the doctor that the white-haired male had spoken of. The other was another figure with a somewhat comical appearance that did remind him of a stereotypical member of a pirate crew, considering eyepatch and earrings.

Tyki lifted his head and turned in the direction of the voices.

“My goodness, what happened here?” the man exclaimed, pushing hexagonal glasses up the bridge of his nose. “How long have you been like this?”

Clearly, his voice betrayed his apprehension much unlike the current inhabitants of this place. Of course, that had to be expected, taking into consideration the fact that this man was normal. Unlike everyone else Kanda had been acquainted with thus far.

“Ever since I called Lavi until now,” Allen responded. “...I need to get him out of this place…”

“Allen…?” the redhead ventured, hearing the hint of desperation in the voice of the white-haired male.

“You’ll be going with them too, moyashi,” Kanda broke in abruptly, his eyes narrowing at the shortest of all of them. 

“...you!” the redhead exclaimed, an aggressive finger pointed accusingly at the raven-haired male.

“What do you mean - I can’t do that!” Allen simultaneously gave his input. The doctor glanced up at the pair in confusion before his gaze trailed over to Kanda.

“Yes, what about me?” Kanda snapped, glaring at the redhead.

“You’re...that thing!” 

“His name is Kanda!” Allen quickly corrected. Lavi’s single green eye trailed over to the white-haired male.

“You already named him? Can’t you see he’s going to kill you?”

“He won’t kill me! If he wanted to, he would have already.”

With each word that was spoken, the tick of ire upon Kanda’s forehead grew larger. Reaching up for his sword, he drew it from its sheath in the scarlet case in a lithe movement. Abruptly and precisely, he brought the blade down between the two of them, embedding it within the floor.

“Both of you, shut up!” he snapped. “There is a dying man in the room and you,” he glared at the redhead. “Will drive him to wherever it is you are. You,” he flashed a glance at the doctor, who stood staring stupefied at the trio. “Will make sure he doesn’t meet his maker. And you,” he stared directly into silver eyes. “Will follow them, and stay out of this building.”

Falling silent, he tugged the sword from the floor and sheathed it once again before proceeding to cross his arms irritably over his chest. 

“I’m not leaving!” Allen argued. “I need to find who did that to Neah and Tyki… I can’t just leave!”

“Why do I have to listen to a killer doll?” Lavi sighed. 

“I have no objections,” the doctor interjected ruefully. Kanda’s eyes raised themselves to the ceiling. Finally: someone with a brain.

“Yes you are leaving, moyashi,” he snapped. “If you stay here, you’re going to become a victim. And unlike me, you can die.”

“Well ex _ cuse  _ me for not being an egotistical BaKanda!” Allen retorted sourly.

“What did you call me?!”

“BaKanda.”

The raven sighed and rubbed his temple. “I don’t have time for this. As soon as I find who it is, you can have the finishing blow, baka moyashi. Now get out of this place.” Without waiting for a response, he swept past the shorter male, wrapping an arm around him and settling a slender hand over Allen’s eyes. 

As he removed it, the white-haired male sank into his hold, asleep. Sweeping up the shorter, he deposited him into Lavi’s arms, catching the redhead off guard.

“I don’t know who you are, but I already don’t like you,” he snapped. “Now get this idiot out of my sight before he gets himself killed.” 

Striding purposefully out of the hall, he left the four in the large expanse, abandoning them in favour of returning to the kitchen. If his assumptions were correct, then at the very least that woman would still be within the kitchen.

Breathing out a frown, he massaged his temples once again. Why did this place have to be so unserviceable and large? It would save precious time if these people opted for something smaller. Much smaller. But then again, he hadn’t the knowledge as to how many people lived here, save the six that he had already met, five of which were still alive.

“Where’s your backbone? You have little stomach for boys that want to get into your field!” the familiar voice called from the kitchen, sounding rather angry. 

“Spare them,” another feminine voice called; one that he did not recognize. The only other sounds were the pitiful whimpering and half-hearted complaint of the two who were apparently twins.

As he stepped up to the entrance, he viewed the scene of the two, subjugated to the task of cleaning the blood from the wall and floor of the kitchen, while being watched over by Road. Another woman stood at the stove, cooking something or the other, and bluntly ignoring them.

As the young-looking woman caught sight of Kanda, her eyes narrowed. “How is he?”

“He’ll live,” the raven dismissed easily, earning himself a fleeting glance, courtesy of the other woman. Did everyone within this family have that strangely dark skin and golden eyes? He supposed that, were they related by blood, it shouldn’t have been so strange, but he had not seen anything like it.

“Hm. Where’s Allen?”

“He’ll be going with them,” Kanda responded abruptly, his eyes narrowing. “I’m not letting him stay in this place.” 

The woman seemed to want to contend with him concerning the subject, but she merely frowned and averted her eyes. “That’s probably best,” she agreed with a long sigh. “But why are you staying?” Her words were laced generously with dubious suspicion. 

“Because I need to find out who did this in his stead,” Kanda responded simply. “And if that entails having to stay in this godforsaken place, then fine.”

“See to it that he is fed,” the other woman stated, handing Road a plate of food. The woman sighed, but nonetheless nodded and moved to leave the kitchen. Sparing a final hard glance at the twins that had near finished cleaning the blood from the kitchen, she departed.

“You must eat too,” the woman went on, causing Kanda to spare her a longer look. He realized that she was addressing a creature that looked like a bird of some sort, yellow in colour and skulking within the corner of a windowsill.

For someone who acted like a caretaker, she was awfully unexpressive, he noted, her expression completely unreadable, even for someone such as he. As he continued to watch, she coaxed the creature out from the sill with a sunflower seed.

However, much to his well hidden surprise, as opposed to taking the seed from her hand, the creature flew instead towards him, settling itself between the loose lock of hair that had not been pulled up upon the left side of his face, and his cheek.

Subtly, he flashed the creature a venomous glare before his gaze flickered back to the woman, who stared blankly at him for a few moments before returning to her task of cooking.

“He belonged to Neah,” the woman stated bluntly. No further statement passed her lips, leaving the group of four and a bird laden with heavy silence. Kanda clucked his tongue abruptly and moved to flick the creature away from his body.

To his chagrin, it only pressed closer to his cold skin, leaving him with no choice but to deal with it for the moment. Frowning, he stepped out of the kitchen, bird still alighted upon his shoulder. As he proceeded through the hall, the sound of voices reached his ears. Frowning, he paused to listen.

“Sheril, go and take Neah’s body before Mana goes mad-- we need to hold the funeral as soon as possible. I’m afraid for his mental state… If he’s exposed to Neah while he’s like that, it won’t be good.”

“That’s only to be expected… Yes - I’ll go organize everything as soon as possible. Take care of yourself, all right, dear? And make sure the others don’t get themselves caught in anything stupid...oh, and I must call up my brother and see how he’s doing…”

“Yeah, I know. Now please hurry so I don’t have to make sure he eats his breakfast with Neah in the room…”

Kanda sighed and continued to walk, ignoring whatever of the conversation progressed. From that conversation, he could deduce that this ‘Sheril' character was a mortician…

All of Allen’s family members had a strange obsession with any and all things dark; no wonder they lived in a secluded gothic-style estate. He sighed and flicked the bird, scowling as it pecked his ear in turn. Troublesome thing…

“Oh. You again.” 

Kanda frowned as his eyes met those of the girl who was much older than she seemed. “Che.”

As she drew closer to him, he refused to budge, meeting her golden eyes that glimmered with distrust. As he waited, he found a penknife held up against his neck, where his jugular would have been, was he a human. Pale blue eyes narrowed. 

“You’re a suspect,” she informed sharply. “If I find out you had anything to do with this, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”

He met her hard gaze for a few brief moments before clucking his tongue. “So be it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought Timcanpy didn't like Kanda. But apparently he does here. Or at least he tolerates him... And Road is getting serious. Everyone is getting serious. Even if Kanda didn't kill anyone. Or did he...?


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With all that's happening, you'd think that the Noah Family would be able to find clues... But they can't. I wonder why that is ;) Anyway, here is chapter 7 - I do hope I'm not too late...  
> Tyki is going to live. Allen has plenty of time for retrospect and introspect now that he doesn't have to worry about his life. Uneventful chapter; yay -.-  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Allen groaned softly, shifting onto his side. Strange...he was laying on something soft. His eyelids fluttered to briefly reveal silver irides before shutting again in face of the light that invaded his delicate vision. He felt cold. He waited momentarily before slowly opening his eyes once again, attempting to register just where he was.

The last thing he could recall was arguing with Kanda… Kanda! Allen sat up abruptly, but soon fell back as his centre of gravity shifted too quickly for him to accommodate 

“Allen…! You’re awake!”

He recognized that voice… Swaying slightly, he reached out for something to steady himself, his vision finally focussing. He blinked and drew in the sight around him. He was upon a couch within a house - not in his own or the estate...and someone was watching him--

“Lenalee?”

The dark-haired woman was dressed in her scrub suit, and a surgical mask rested upon her chin as she greeted him with a smile. “You got a good rest,” she informed.

His eyes widened. “Tyki…! Where is he?”

“He’s resting in Lavi’s guest room,” she replied calmly. “Clearly his relatives don’t want him admitted into a hospital, so we just brought equipment to Lavi’s place since he volunteered to keep him here for now.”

“...you could have kept him at my place,” Allen ventured. 

She shrugged. “You were asleep. We did try to wake you up at one point but--”

“Wait - why am I here too?” Of course. He shouldn’t be in Lavi’s house. He should be back at the estate trying to get to the bottom of whatever was going on before more people suffered the consequences of the lack of action taken.

“I don’t know,” Lenalee responded honestly, pushing herself into a standing position. “But for now I don’t think you’ll be going anywhere. You’d best stay with our patient for now.”

“But--”

“Oh, wonderful~ It looks like someone’s finally woken up.”

Allen’s eyes trailed over to where Komui stood, foolish grin plastered onto his face and completely and utterly soiled bandages in his hands. Allen immediately shot to his feet.

“How is he?”

The grin dissipated from the older male’s features to be replaced with a more serious expression. With that alone, the gloom that dripped into the room was made all the more evident. Allen could have flinched.

“His physique is amazing - most people would be dead. However, he will never be able to see again because…” the doctor drifted off.

“Because his eyes were gouged out,” Allen finished flatly, his gaze dulling. “I know… Neah’s eyes were gouged out too.”

“Just what is going on, Allen?” Komui ventured. “We really should take this matter to the poli--”

“No!” Allen interjected before the man could even finish his sentence. “No - this is our business… Calling the police would only inconvenience the family, and they’d…take Neah’s body for evidence…” he drifted off, his jaw tightening. Mana was already grief-stricken enough by the sight of his younger twin; if Neah were to be taken away, it may as well drive him mad. Allen couldn’t allow that.

“If you say so,” Lenalee sighed. “But I agree with my brother,” she added. He nodded.

“I know, but I can’t allow it…” He cast another glance around the room. “Where’s Lavi?”

“He’s still in the guest room,” Komui informed, beginning to walk once again, presumably to rid himself of the bloodstained bandages. “You may go see your relative if you want to. He fell unconscious during the ride back, and still hasn’t awakened.”

“Will he…?” Allen found that his tongue disallowed him the privilege of completing his sentence.

“I don’t know, honestly,” the man responded. “That’s up to him. But he is quite fit, so I’d say that there’s a low chance of that.”

“All right. Thanks.” Allen immediately broke into a quick walk towards the guest room, leaving the two siblings behind in the living room. Quietly, he pushed open the door and stepped into the room. 

To his everlasting surprise, he found the redhead still within the room, as had been stated by Komui, but leaning against the wall and merely watching Tyki in silence. As Allen shut the door, the redhead glanced up at him, and attempted a lopsided grin.

“Hey, Allen-chan~”

“Hi, Lavi,” he greeted. “What happened?”

“Pretty boy, aka Cursed Geisha knocked you out and told me to take you with me,” Lavi responded starkly.

“Kanda…?” Allen ventured, his gaze growing blank. Why had the raven done what he had? At the moment, there was no place Allen wished to be than at the estate trying to find who was behind all of this carnage. For him to be brought out with no convenient way of returning was…

“That’s what you named him?”

“Yes,” Allen responded simply. 

“Looks like you put those lessons to good use, ‘the redhead replied wryly. Allen flashed a halfhearted smile.

“Yeah…”

“You know, I never really took things like this seriously, but it’s terrifying when you actually see the victim firsthand,” the redhead murmured, his eye drifting down to the unconscious man upon the bed. “I saw what was underneath the bandages.”

Allen gave no visible answer to the redhead’s words as he approached the bed. His monochrome eyes just barely wavered as he viewed the sight of the re-bandaged man, looking far weaker than he’d ever seen him, despite Komui’s praising words earlier.

It was a discouraging scenario - there was no denying that, even if he tried. However, the question remained in his mind if it was really a good idea to leave Kanda with his relatives. While he trusted the raven was not the perpetrator or the instigator behind the recent, scarring events, a sense of misgiving had crept into his chest and taken root, refusing to budge.

He was well aware that his faith in the raven was possibly bordering on unreasonable, considering the fact that Kanda could have indeed been the killer… The thought quickly grew cold in Allen’s mind, settling in the recesses of his psyche. He refused to believe it. As little as he knew about the doll, he had little doubt in him. After all, he had firsthand experienced the immersion of the despair that seemed to emanate from the jet black tears that Kanda had shed. Even if the raven felt nothing towards Neah, Allen had been affected the most by the circumstance.

It only made his curiosity concerning the doll to grow. He wanted to know the source of that darkness that seemed to, quite literally, dwell within the raven. He wanted to know how Kanda had come to be. He wanted to know the identity of the one that had created something so lethally beautiful.

Those were doubtless not the thoughts that should have been running through his mind as he stood before a direly injured person, but he could not help himself. Ever since he had first seen the doll, it was safe to say that, save the recent grisly events, Kanda had been the only thing remaining in his mind.

He frowned. He had been doing that an awful lot as of late, he realized. If he were to be completely honest with himself, he couldn’t recall the last time he had smiled with complete sincerity. Even the times where he had laughed with Kanda or spoken with his friends, he could not shake the mendacious happiness from his lips. It disgusted him.

Why - was something missing? Of course there was - Neah was dead, and Tyki could potentially die. The rest of his family was doubtless being targeted at the current moment as well. But even before all of this had happened, the same emptiness had still existed. Why? Silver eyes drifted to the floor. He was more well off than most people. He had everything he could have ever wished for, and then some. He had no reason to feel so hollow.

Yet, in purchasing Kanda, Allen had been completely stricken by the doll. Was it right? Was it even  _ sane _ ? He had no answers to his questions. Now the raven had been left with his family. Despite Kanda’s indirect reassurances of being unable to die, Allen could not deprive himself of the fear that misfortune would befall the raven.

He was powerless to stop any of it as well. He had been sequestered from his family, and the thought caused a rush of guilt to flood his skin, causing every inch of his body to physically ache. It wasn’t right that he should be protected when there was nothing at all that set him above his family. In fact, he may as well have been the first to die. 

That thought caused another to intrude his mind. Was Kanda trying to...protect him? Surely that could not be the case; the raven had blatantly conveyed to him many times of his hatred for both humanity and Allen himself. For someone who would say such things to act in that manner was senseless. 

“Allen?”

The white-haired male snapped out of his partial-trance, monochromatic eyes focussing on the redhead who had addressed him. He blinked.

“Do you want me to leave?” Lavi questioned, worry in his lone emerald eye. Allen tilted his head slightly.

“Why…?”

In response, the taller male lifted his hand, a finger pointed towards him. “You’re crying, Allen.”

Raising his hand, Allen swiped it across his eyes only to realize that Lavi’s words were indeed truth. Turning his head away so that he did not have to face the gaze of the redhead, he sighed. “Lavi, let me go back,” he pleaded. “I need to go back.”

The stony pause between them did not precipitate a positive response. Allen’s suspicions were confirmed as the lips of the taller male parted. 

“No.”

The response gave no quarter for doubt, much to Allen’s dismay. His hand clenched into a loose fist as his gaze drifted down to the mangled body that lay upon the bed. 

“I can’t afford to be sheltered here when they’re in danger, Lavi…!”

“And I can’t afford to let you go someplace where you could be killed!” the redhead argued, pulling his bandana from his head and tucking it into his pocket, allowing his fiery locks to hang free. “If whoever is behind all of this doesn’t get you, then that doll will. Assuming that the doll wasn’t the one behind it in the first place.”

“It wasn’t him!” Allen insisted, lowering his hand from his eyes. “I know it wasn’t… It couldn’t be him.”

“But do you have any proof?” the redhead ventured. “Everyone's a suspect.”

“Am I a suspect?” he challenged. His words were met with silence and a long, unreadable stare courtesy of the redhead.

“Yes,” Lavi finally responded, his tone unusually lacking in light-heartedness. “But I really doubt you did it.”

“See? And I was there with Kanda almost the entire time - he couldn’t have done it.”

“The  _ entire  _ time?” came the dubious question. 

Allen nodded. “The entire time. Except for when I was trying to sleep, and ended up finding him with Neah… and when I brought Neah to Mana…”

“You found him with your uncle?” 

“He didn’t kill him! He couldn’t have - Kanda only has a sword, and the wounds that Neah had weren’t made with a sword; neither are the ones on Tyki!” The white-haired male gestured to the man below them.

“...fair enough, but that doesn’t make him less suspicious at all,” Lavi informed simply. “I don’t trust him, Allen. He seems like the type that’ll backstab you when you least expect it - literally.”

Allen breathed out a weary sigh. “Is there any other information about him that isn’t the fact that he’ll kill his owner and that he’s cursed?” he questioned. “I barely know anything about him…”

“Not a lot is known about him,” Lavi replied. “But from what I could gather, you must really love him.”

“What?!” Allen frowned, his gaze snapping from the flayed body upon the bed to the redhead. Lavi held up his hands in a disarming movement. 

“According to the urban legend, his soul is dead inside of him until someone loves him. Their love is what stirs his soul up and brings him to life. Seeing as he’s still alive even though he’s not in a doll form any longer…” the redhead drifted off. 

“Is there anything else?” Allen questioned tentatively.

“They also say that, while he’s alive, he thrives off hatred.”

“That makes no sense.”

“He’s a cursed doll. They say that if his owner doesn’t end up hating him, his soul will end up unleashing destruction or something. Some people even said that his soul is evil itself and is only awakened by love because it hates it so much.”

Allen frowned. That blackness that had enveloped his body from when he had witnessed Kanda with Neah; was that what Lavi had spoken of? He breathed out. Prior to now, he would have never allowed himself to believe something that sounded so far-fetched and utterly ridiculous, but now…

“Then why does he kill his owners if he needs their hatred?” the white-haired male questioned.

“I don’t know,” Lavi replied honestly. “I guess the only way you’ll get an answer to that is if you ask him, but I don’t think he’ll answer. Besides - it’s an urban myth, right? Even if some of it is true, it doesn’t mean all of it is…” the redhead drifted off unconvincingly.

“You’re right,” Allen agreed. 

His gaze once again shifted to stare at Tyki. Thankfully, his breaths had grown much stronger than they had been when they had found him, even if that was thanks to the oxygen mask that was attached to his face. His face, however, was paler than what could be normal for him, albeit not as pale as Mana.

Mana! Allen’s heartbeat began to grow rapid. If anything were to happen to Mana, he didn’t know if he would ever be able to forgive himself. As it was, the man was already valetudinarian. If the killer had decided to target him, he would be an undeniably easy target without enough strength to fight back.

“I need to go back! I need to protect Mana!” he exclaimed, his eyes widened by alarm. 

“I really hate to say this, but no.” The response remained just as firm as it had been when Lavi had first uttered it. “Don’t you trust your family? They’ll protect him for you - you can’t go back.”

“But--”

“Do you think that Kanda will be too happy if you go back?”

Allen stopped short. The simple question should not have affected him, but he had nonetheless stopped to seriously ponder it. Kanda had been the one to send him away, after all. He really did doubt that the raven would be very pleased, did he return.

“Point,” he sighed. “But then at least let me take Tyki to my place. It isn’t fair that you have to accommodate him when you don’t even know him.”

The redhead grinned half-heartedly and shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. He can stay here. Besides - I don’t think it’d be a good idea to unhook all this stuff and send him on another ride.” 

“....you’re probably right,” Allen grudgingly agreed. He was about to say more, but his phone rang, interrupting his words before they had even been uttered. Blinking, he quickly sidled out of the guest room, so as not to disturb the man within. Glancing down at his phone, he found it to be Road.

Answering the call, he held the phone up to his ear.

“Allen, Neah’s funeral will be in three days. You won’t have school then, right?”

“I won’t,” Allen affirmed. He paused momentarily before speaking once again. “...how’s Mana?”

“Honestly…? Not doing too well,” the woman responded sombrely. “I tried to get him to eat, but he won’t even take a single bite - all he’s had today are a few sips of water.”

Allen’s heart sank, and he swallowed thickly. “All right… How’s Kanda?”

“I don’t like him,” the woman responded, and Allen could virtually see her characteristic pout. “He’s never warm. It’s like he isn’t even alive. And he never smiles. Not even fake smiles. It’s like he isn’t human.”

Well she wasn’t wrong.

“Also, for some reason, Timcanpy has taken a liking to him.”

Allen almost smiled. The cockatiel must have been heartbroken - at least if Tim liked Kanda, there was one person who could take care of him. The avian was a rather finicky little creature, after all. Not to mention the sight of the ill-mannered Kanda having to deal with the bird was rather cute.

“Anything else?” he questioned. 

“Yes,” she replied, her tone rapidly growing unusually grim. Allen could feel a foreboding coldness creep over his skin at the sound of her voice. “Wisely said that the killer had to be one of us in the estate. You know him - he’s never wrong when it comes to these things.”

Allen was silent. He was never one to believe the words of a psychic, but Wisely was different. Although they were the same age, the other white-haired male in his family had gained himself notoriety as a psychic. It was a ridiculous pastime in Allen’s eyes, but he had to reluctantly admit that the other was scarce wrong, if ever.

He could not imagine who could be the one behind it, although he was well aware that Kanda would find himself being a primary suspect. Allen himself knew full well that it couldn’t possibly be the raven. If his acute instinct was to be trusted.

“Who do you th--”

“It’s that Kanda person,” Road accused sharply. “It has to be.”

“You always get solid proof, Road,” he contradicted firmly. “It’s not like you to condemn someone without having evidence.”

Her silence told him that he was right. A soft sigh of relief passed his lips. If they turned against each other, it would only be easier for the perpetrator of the crimes to act. They couldn’t afford to initiate dissension amongst themselves.

“....aside from that, how is Tyki?” she questioned, her voice unusually quiet. He breathed out yet another sigh.

“He’s unconscious now, but he should be fine,” he responded. “He’s being kept at my friend’s place for now, and my other friend will be checking up on him every so often.”

“So he’s alive?

“Yes.”

There was a brief silence on the other end before Road spoke once again. “Thank goodness…” her voice was somewhat tight and choked, leading him to believe that she was on the verge of tears. A compassionate smile instinctively stole over his lips despite knowing that she would not be able to witness it.

“I’ll take care of him, Road,” he assured. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. You take care of yourself too, and let me know if anything else happens.”

“Right,” she responded, her tone somewhat distant. “Update me on his status too.”

“Okay.” Allen was prepared to hang up on the call, but the sound of commotion on the other hand stopped him. He frowned. “What’s going on?!”

“Oi - moyashi.”

Allen blinked, another slight smile creeping onto his features unbidden. “It’s Allen, BaKanda! And don’t expect me to be happy that you kicked me out of my own home!”

“Stupid rich brats,” the raven snapped from the other side of the call. Allen sighed.

“What do you want.”

“...I’ll be seeing you in three days.”

“Yeah.”

“Che.”

As the call was abruptly disconnected, Allen was left staring stupidly at the screen of his phone, unsure as to what had just occurred.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Neah's funeral is only in three days; what could possibly go wrong in three days? ^.^


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Am I late...? I'm really sorry if I am -.-" I'm losing track of my schedule already :P But not chapter 8 is out yay~ of course, there are already so many questions, but still no answers in sight...? What now - more questions of course ;P  
> Kanda finds out some things that he really doesn't appreciate. At all.  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Dropping the phone into the hands of the woman, Kanda ignored her indignant complaints, and opted instead to leave the smaller hall where the family had gathered to eat save a few, namely that Mana and others that did not currently inhabit the estate. 

The remainder, however, had been well informed and well perturbed by Road and that other male with the white hair: Wisely. He himself had little reason to stay, as he clearly did not fit into the picture, save as a possible culprit.

With alacrity, he shifted to leave the hall, not sparing himself a single moment longer. He would much rather ruminate upon his thoughts alone as opposed to musing with himself in a room full of people; especially if the people were some whom he either barely knew or didn’t know at all.

“Oh no, you don’t.”

He tensed as his sleeve was grabbed, causing it to slide further down his arm until it rested comfortably upon the crook of his elbow. His eyes narrowed as he tugged the clothing up his arm once again, allowing it to remain lax upon his being.

Pale blue eyes drifted over to the much shorter woman, who still held his sleeve between slender fingers, her grip firm enough to cause her dark knuckles to blanch.

“You’re not going anywhere without someone watching you,” she informed frankly, tone laced liberally with distrust. He clucked his tongue and tugged his sleeve from her grasp, but made no further movement to take his leave, lest she make good of her threat to be his undoing and discover his true identity as not a human, but a doll.

Leaning back against the wall upon which he chose to stand by, he pulled his flute from his obi and began to pick languidly at the blood that had crusted upon it. In minute flakes, it began to crumble to the ground, revealing the moderately lustrous wood beneath.

He blatantly ignored the piercing looks he was granted despite being able to virtually feel pairs of golden, almost predatory eyes boring into him. As he delicately scraped off the remainder of the blood from his instrument, he lifted his eyes to meet those that stared intently at him. “What.”

As he waited for a response, the white-haired male, whom he had deduced could not be much older than the beansprout, stood and stepped over to the entrance of the smaller hall, motioning for him to follow. Glad for the reason to escape the scrutinizing and almost feline eyes, he strode after the listless male.

They traversed the large corridor at a sedate pace in next to dead silence, save the sound of their footsteps against the hollow floor; Kanda had discovered the existence of a lower floor, but it was scarce used due to the plenteous space aboveground.

When they had reached a distance that enabled no eavesdroppers without being unnoticed, the white-haired male merely yawned, blinking somewhat owlishly at Kanda. “I know who you are,” he informed simply, a slight shrug accentuating his words.

Kanda’s eyes narrowed into an allusion of a glare, although not quite that. He waited in frosty silence for a further explanation of his company’s words, his lips pursed into a taut line as he obstinately refused to give a verbal response. Upon his shoulder, the yellow bird clung, cocking its head as though in curiosity.

“I keep up to date with news too, you know,” the male sighed, raking his fingers languidly through his hair and leaning against the wall indolently. “You’re some Cursed Geisha thing that’s brought to life by the love of its owner before murdering them.”

“And what is your point?” Kanda questioned levelly, allowing no hint of what ran through his mind at the words into his cold tone.

“Hm… Nothing really,” Wisely drawled, sparing him a torpid glance. “I just thought I’d let you know that I know you’re not behind all this.”

“I know that,” Kanda stated monotonously. 

“And I know you know. Just wanted to assure you of that, I guess…”

“I don’t need your reassurance.”

Wisely blinked slowly, the simple movement seeming to be executed with generous amount of lethargy. “I know that the one behind this is from our family, but I don’t know who it is. That’s why I can’t tell them that you’re innocent.”

“Che. I don’t need your help.”

“I guessed as much,” the white-haired male replied. “You’re an immortal doll, after all.”

“Shut up.”

“Why…? It’s not like you have feelings - it shouldn’t affect you--”

“Shut  _ up! _ ” the raven exclaimed, sword drawn and threatening the neck of the young man, who merely spared him supine, golden eyes. In his rush, the avian upon his being had fluttered off, and now hovered a small distance away from the pair.

“You aren’t invincible,” Wisely continued, slowly pushing the sword away from his being by the flat of its blade. “I can tell you that  _ he  _ will be your undoing.” The words, regardless of menacing implication, sounded anything but as they passed the lips of the white-haired male, who seemed to be biting back a yawn.

“How do you--?”

“Hm…? I was talking about Allen,” Wisely clarified, straightening up slightly and guiding the sword down until it hung vertically by the raven’s side.

Kanda could have visibly relaxed then and there, but he opted to disguise the movement with the diversionary abrupt sheathing of his sword. Subsequently, the irksome bird alighted upon his shoulder once again. Did Wisely dare to provoke him with mentions of  _ him,  _ Kanda would make a malefactor of himself. 

“There’s darkness in your eyes and your mark is growing,” the man observed. “I don’t know how this will turn out in the long run…”

“You talk too much,” the long-haired male snapped in turn. However, his gaze drifted down to his sleeveless turtleneck-covered chest only to discover that the detection of the other was not false. Barely visible, bifurcated markings of pitch black marred his shoulder.

Eyes of pale azure narrowed at the sight, but quickly snapped back to the man who perused him with enervated eyes. He already disliked that stare that seemed to be constantly poring over his every detail and slightest movement to read his thoughts and intentions. For someone so physically inert and idle, his mind worked at absurd rates.

“Knowledge is power,” the white-haired male quoted, as if able to read his exact thoughts. That already unnerved him well over what he had been a few moments before. 

“Are you done yet?” Kanda hissed, dislike evident and prominent within his voice. 

Wisely seemed somewhat taken aback by his hostility, but nonetheless shrugged. “Sure. You don’t have to be mad, you know. I just wanted to talk to you. People would pay to hear things like this.”

“Then people are stupid,” Kanda responded abruptly. The expression of faint surprise was soon taken over by a somewhat lopsided smile and a bark of laughter, causing the raven’s eyes to narrow. 

“They are, aren’t they,” the man responded easily. 

Well that was unexpected. Kanda clucked his tongue and crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to grant any sign alluding to his pleasure at hearing someone who finally agreed with his perspective. Perhaps, of all humans, he could hate this man a little less, but if he continued to talk, Kanda swore he would take that thought and burn it.

“You don’t need supernatural powers to tell someone what their future will most likely be, what their past was, or what their present is,” the man explained, for once sounding at least the slightest bit enthusiastic. “Certain people act certain ways, and no matter how subtle, it will tell you what kind of person they are. The way they interact with people can tell you how their relationship with them will end up. Exceptional observation is a power in itself.”

“And why do I need to know this?” Kanda countered, his previous notion wearing thin.

“You’re a murderer.”

“I know.”

“But you aren’t evil.”

“...” 

What the dark-skinned male was attempting to say could not be any more obscure to Kanda. He was aware that there was general information about himself being passed around via media, but he was quite certain that he was indeed ‘evil’ by its definition.

Just because one person claimed that he wasn’t didn’t mean he wasn’t. Two, if he added Allen, he supposed. What was it with white-haired people and managing to reap his irritation by being too observant? Any more of the same personalities, and he would make a stereotype of the attribute.

“I can’t say I know your history, and I doubt you’ll tell me, but I doubt you’re evil.”

“Che.” Kanda had no witty retort for the statement that was spoken with such frankness, it completely belied the passionlessness of its source. He frowned and pointedly averted his gaze from the white-haired male, choosing instead to lay his gaze upon the cloudless sky outside through the tracery of a nearby window.

“Anyway, now that that’s done with, I’m out,” Wisely sighed, trudging away through the hall once again.

Kanda discreetly eyed the retreating back of the white-haired male, but made no move to follow suit. Frowning, the raven sidled over to the window and ran his fingers over the tracery, staring out of the elaborate frame. It only augmented the prison-like ambience that overhung the estate. 

In sullen silence, Kanda probed his fingers through the gaps in the tracery, allowing the heat of sunlight to dance upon the tips of perfect porcelain digits. He clucked his tongue and scowled. The knowledge that his current owner was well away from them affected him more than he had initially assumed. He had not taken into consideration that, in sending Allen away, he would be left among people that he barely knew or did not know at all.

Not only was the beansprout far from here the murderer was, he was also far from Kanda himself, disallowing the raven from harming him as well. Why Kanda had allowed such a thing, he would never know. Although the departure of the white-haired male would ensure his safety from the culprit, Kanda could not chase away the unrest that stirred within himself.

Caring about the welfare of his owner was not something that Kanda was supposed to do. If they were hurt, it was none of his business. However, anyone save himself hurting the white-haired male did not rest easy within his mind. His scowl deepened.

He needed to conclude all of this, and swiftly before things grew out of hand. Not that they hadn’t already. One murder was enough, but the second attempted, albeit failed, murder showed the intent of the malefactor. If they did not make haste, this place would soon be empty, and not due to the fact that the family would flee.

He clucked his tongue and broke into a brisk walk down the hall, following the selfsame direction that Wisely had taken in his egression. Pale blue eyes flickered around his surroundings warily; he couldn’t fight of the sensation that he was being watched. 

Tentatively, he spared a brief glance behind himself, gaze narrowing at the corridor stretched out. Sighing, he passed the many smaller halls and the grand one before slowly to an abrupt halt. Whirling around, he bolted back, gaze scanning the halls.

Stopping abruptly, his eyes narrowed in revulsion at the sight. Leaving the room once again without so much as a word, he ran for the dining hall. It was his best bet, considering that was where he had last seen many of the family. His abrupt movements had knocked the bird off its perch upon his shoulder, and it pursued him as he ran.

Coming to a precipitous stop, he looked around the hall, eyes landing upon the sole person that remained within, cheek against her palm and elbow propped up upon the table as she scanned through something or the other upon her phone.

“You,” he called brusquely. “Hurry up - there’s another victim.”

His words caused her golden gaze to fly upwards as she stood so abruptly it nearly knocked her chair over. Her eyes narrowing, she sped over to him, nearly knocking the cockatiel out of the air in her hurried motions. 

Turning his back to her, he once again began to dart for the hall in which he had spotted the crime scene. How such a gory impression could have been overlooked in any way was beyond him, but perhaps the remainder of the family had their own business to be occupied with.

The sole reason that Kanda could identify what had once been a complete body was the fact that the head of the person was unscathed, save for the blood that flowed from doubtless empty eye sockets. Long, straight, black hair was pulled into knots upon the tracery of the farthest window, leaving the head suspended for all to see.

“Lulu Bell…!” 

So that was what her name was. Kanda could feel the small, winged creature cowering by his neck as though frightened by the sight, but that did not deter him as he stepped further inside. 

Around the room was scattered sundered appendages in a ghastly, disorganized manner. Blood splattered against the white-marble floor, seeming for all the world like a lake of crimson upon frozen, snow-covered earth. Kanda mentally pieced together the body. A leg here, a hand there, fingers strewn over the marble, an arm, a bisected torso that seemed to have been hacked into without mercy.

How anyone could do something in such a disorganized manner, and get away without so much as a bloodstained footprint, the raven did not know. What he did know, however, was that by his side stood a seething woman, tears of rage spilling from her large eyes.

“You’d better not have been behind this,” she hissed, swiping an aggressive, slender hand over her eyes. Lifting her phone, she snapped a picture of the carnage, presumably for investigative reasons, and traversed further into the room. 

“You know I’m not,” the raven stated coldly. His unreadable gaze scanned over the appendages and other parts of the body. Those cuts could not possibly have been made by a knife. If they had been, then whoever had committed the crime possessed phenomenal strength.

As much as he did not wish to muse upon it, the only time he had witnessed cuts so clean and of such great magnitude, was when he himself utilized his own sword for the sake of slaughter. Even then, the scene would be less than immaculate. This was almost art, was it not a degradation to the word.

He was pulled rapidly from his thoughts as the feeling of something sharp snapping at his ear caused him to return to the current situation they were within.

Scowling at the yellow creature, he flicked it, only for it to nip at his finger and sidle closer to his neck. He breathed out an aggravated sigh, glancing back at the one other live person within the room. She had occupied herself with the mentally arduous task of gathering the segregated body parts into a side of the hall. 

He made no move to aid her, strongly doubting that she would appreciate any and all aid from him, regardless of having grudgingly accepted his help that morning concerning the other man.

That made three victims in less than one day, two of them dead. Another thing he could not comprehend, was why he, with his inhumanly sharp hearing, could not discern any cry of pain at any given time prior to discovering the bodies. There was no sign of gags inhibiting them from speaking, and yet, not even a gasp of pain.

It was unnatural of any human to not alert anyone somehow, were they being tortured in such a manner. He doubted that this family was an exception to that unwritten law. And yet, he had not heard a single sound - it disturbed him.

It should not have, as he was well aware. He was accustomed to murder and the things that were acquainted with it, but this exceeded even his knowledge. The only person he knew that was capable of such a thing most certainly did not exist, and yet, everything was falling into perturbing harmony.

He frowned, and began to step out of the hall with the intention of searching for the one whom he could safely assume made the funeral preparations and performed the embalming, or whatever it was that humans did to their dead. With all the rooms in this place, he wouldn’t be surprised if there was one that was completely dedicated to the execution.

“Where are you going?” the frigid tone in the hoarse voice of the dark-haired woman who stood across from him interrogated. He scowled, not bothering to face her.

“To see your resident mortician,” he responded laconically, plucking the troublesome bird off his shoulder and launching it into the air. Much to his displeasure, it had decided that his shoulder made an ample resting place, and soon plopped almost comically back onto it.

“Why?” He could feel the amber gaze boring into his body. He clucked his tongue and shifted his gaze over to the woman, whose clothes and were now almost entirely soiled by the messy labour that she had imposed upon herself. She stepped away from the assemblage of Lulu Bell’s sundered body, and approached him, distrust still very much evident within her eyes.

“I need to see the body,” the stated simply. One was not enough to confirm his suspicions. He needed another to rightfully assert his the precision of his assumption to the remainder of the family lest anyone else was resigned to the fate that the previous three had been. “I might know who is doing all of this.”

Why he even bothered was unclear to him at the moment, but if his premonition was indeed veracity, then he could justify himself. Turning once again, he began to stride through the hall, his goal, finding the man who had been granted charge of Neah’s body.

“Wait.”

He stopped short at the single word; something uncharacteristic of him. As he waited, the sound of footsteps stalking towards him registered in his auditory perception. It took little time for the much shorter woman to reach his side and pass him, flashing him a curt glance. “I’ll take you there.”

“Che.” 

He followed a small distance away from her, noting the fact that she was once again fiddling with her phone, a prominent frown on her features. Despite the expression, her face still remained as youthful as ever; something that Kanda had not witnessed in a long while.

Soon enough, they were met with the sight of a pair of grumbling twins headed in the direction opposite of them. A single stern look from Road silenced them as they shuffled past, and made their way towards the most recent scene of carnage.

“What makes you think you’ll know?” she challenged as soon as the twins were out of earshot. 

He did not spare her a single glance, instead keeping his gaze forwards.“Three people are dead,” was the simple response that passed his lips. Despite the obvious questioning within the air between them, he flatly refused  to elaborate. He could not be certain as of yet, but his instincts nary served him inadequately.

As they passed through the large expanse that was the abode of the family, Kanda discovered that they were headed downstairs to the underground level of the place. He did suppose that, being the driest of the levels, that did make sense. However, he had yet to see anything.

Lights flickered on as a switch was flipped by the amber-eyed woman, who then proceeded to step through yet another hall, headed for a door that stood almost parallel to the stairs that they had descended from. 

She knocked upon the door before pushing it open and stepping into a room. Kanda frowned, his gaze drifting around the place. A faint scent of antibiotics and sterilization drifted through his senses. The place was, much unlike the rest of the building, painted in white and perfectly clean, much like one would expect, were they within a hospital.

Within one corner of the room stood a man who looked rather similar to the one that they had discovered that morning within the kitchen, save the fact that he seemed a little older. He was bent over the lifeless body of Mana’s younger twin, injecting something or the other into his body.

Road cleared her throat as he withdrew the syringe, causing him to near drop the implement in his hurry over to her. Much to Kanda’s discomfited surprise, the man threw his arms around her, hugging her in a manner that could only be described as ridiculous. Thankfully, she was quick to push him away, although sparing him the quickest of pecks on the cheek.

“Road, dear, to what do I owe this visit?” he crooned, causing Kanda to take a wary step back. The spiky-haired woman shrugged slightly before gesticulating vaguely in his direction.

“He wants to see Neah,” she informed. 

Kanda found himself almost feeling entrapped by yet another golden stare, this one possessing a bizarrely vulpine quality. He was quickly inspected by the man before the path was cleared for him to see the first victim of the recent unfortunate string of events.

As he reached out, slender fingers wrapped themselves around the cloth that covered the corpse and pulled it down at a sedate pace.

His eyes widened and darkened as a burning sensation seared over his chest. Taking a step back from the body, he drew in a sharp breath, his jet gaze narrowing. He had not been wrong. It was  _ him. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is all well and good, but who is /he/ Kanda? Why must you be so stubborn and not reveal any of that pointless backstory that no one wants to hear...? Ah well - there's a time for everything, I suppose...


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on time for once! Yay~ Anyway, chapter 9 up. More retrospect and introspect courtesy of Allen. After all, he doesn't really have much to do when he's not in danger of being murdered...  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

As slow minutes ticked by at a painfully sedate pace, Allen was beginning to rediscover his detestation of being apart from his family with the knowledge that they were in serious danger. He refused to budge from Lavi’s sofa, shifting restlessly and playing with his fingers, but remaining tight-lipped and refusing to voice his concerns.

Komui had left the building subsequently to instructing Lenalee as to what she ought to do with their charge. The man did have his classes to teach after all, and could not spare the time for a patient. However, his favourite student could, and had his permission to.

The young woman had disappeared into the guest room in order to check up on the invalid Tyki. Lavi had yet to leave the room, resulting in Allen’s company being himself alone. He nearly jumped as his phone vibrated in his pocket for the agitation that thrummed under his skin.

Pulling the electronic from his pocket, he unlocked it before freezing in horror at the scene that had been sent to him. His lips parted in a soundless gasp of shocked dread at the image. Blinking, as if in hopes that the picture would dissipate and prove false, he sat there in silence, shoulders rigid.

He would admit; he was not particularly close to Lulu Bell, since she was somewhat a loner, but that did not make her any less his family. Despite the recent grim circumstances, never would he have expected the murderer to strike again, and especially not against Lulu Bell.

The trust that he had placed within the ability of his family to track down the miscreant was slowly diminishing. As little as he wished to admit it, he had placed faith within them to solve the case before anyone else was victimized. Apparently his faith was all but in vain.

Shakily, he lowered his phone, unwanted frissons of trepidation surging through his frame. Leaning back against the sofa, he raised his silver eyes to the ceiling, drawing in erratic breaths. He found himself struggling for air as though winded.

He drew in a sharp breath and held it, covering his eyes with his hand. No tears spilled from weak tear ducts this time as his nails dug into his skin, harshly enough to leave marks, but not enough to break skin. He released his breath. With the exhale, he could suddenly register pain spiking up near his eyes. Groaning softly, he rubbed at the slight indentations created by his nails.

All of this was far beyond his current state of mind. Was he not feeling so utterly and unexpectedly weary, he was certain he would be overwhelmed by fear. However, at the moment, the only overcoming sensation was that of confusion. His thoughts were muddled, and despite knowing full well that three of his relatives were dead, he could not feel anything.

Maybe it was shock. Maybe it was denial. He didn’t know. However, he was fully aware that he needed to return before anything else happened to anyone else. If a murderer could do this in less than one day, he really did not wish to know what it could do in the span of three.

He drew in a shuddering breath and sat up straight. His eyes trailed down the hall of the small place that Lavi called home, and settled to a rest upon the door of the guest room. Either of his two friends had yet to reappear from the room, and he had no desire to traverse within the room lest he only interfere with Lenalee’s work.

Silently, he wondered if Tyki would be well enough to attend Neah’s funeral. Although he knew it was only right that the man, as part of the family, attended, misgivings were still prominently harboured. He was not sure what the presence of the long-haired man would entail. Despite many stratagems involving the usage of something or someone as bait, he did not wish to place Tyki’s life in jeopardy.

Monochrome orbs trailed down to his phone as his fingers encircled around it once again, retrieving it from when he had set it upon the couch. He quickly unlocked it and sent a quick message to Road before pocketing the electronic. As he did so, muted footsteps entered his perception.

He lifted his head to see Lenalee watching him with a smile. After a moment’s hesitation, he smiled back, the expression not quite making it to his eyes. 

“If I’m correct, I’d say he’s asleep,” the woman informed, motioning to the room. “With any luck, he’ll wake up tomorrow and we’ll be able to speak with him.”

Allen breathed out a sigh of relief, his smile barely widening. “Thank goodness…” He voiced nothing of what he had just seen within the grisly picture that had been sent to him.

“I still think you should tell the police, Allen,” she stated, not unkindly. “This is serious.”

“I know,” he sighed. “But I can’t.” He really couldn’t. It was more a question of values as opposed to safety, and he did suppose that it could be viewed with ridicule, but he was not even a blood relative - what right did he have to go against their will? He knew that he could if he so wished, but he did not want to.

“Why not?” she countered, her tone gentle but unwavering. “Allen, who knows who could be next-- It’s not worth risking your family for!”

“I know!” he repeated, tone distressingly shrill. “I know they could get hurt! I know they could die! I… I…” he drifted off, eyes wild and breaths harsh. His hands gripped the legs of his pants, the coal black nails of his left tearing holes into the fabric. 

A sigh passed the lips of the woman as she moved to settle herself down beside him. He tensed as he felt her slender arms wrap around his figure, holding it in a soft grip. His nails dug into the palms of his hands as he refused to look at her. She, in turn, merely shifted closer to him, holding him in attempts to comfort him.

“You don’t have to,” she murmured mildly. “But at least keep yourself safe…”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t want to because he could not guarantee something so mendaciously gratifying. His eyes squeezed shut, hot blood coursing through the veins over his body. For the first time in a long while, he felt truly powerless to do anything.

Unable to fulfill something even as simple as being by the side of his family at such a time, he really did have no power. A crushing thought when taking into consideration the fact that he was a person who needed to earn his place; or at least he thought. He could not belong without proving himself, and he couldn’t prove himself. A saturnine smile crept across his lips.

“Hey, Lenalee,” he murmured, silver orbs trailing over to where the dark-haired woman watched him with an almost maternal worry. “They’ll all die, won’t they? They’ll be plucked off one by one until I’m the only one left again, right? They’re all going to die…!” He broke off into broken chuckles, his gaze wide but distant. “I’ll get to see them all dea--”

Before he could finish his sentence, a sharp cracking sound broke through the air. Allen stared wide-eyed at the wall which his face had been directed to as the slight burning sensation of being slapped shot through his nerves. Instinctively, he raised a hand to his cheek in shock, his eyes flying over to the dark-haired girl who frowned at him, hand still brandished.

“Don’t talk like that,” Lenalee reprimanded sternly. “It’s not like you to lose your composure, Allen. Get yourself together!”

Allen lowered his hand, head hanging ashamedly as he nodded in concurrence with her words. A reddish welt bloomed upon his cheek where she had not spared him any mercy. Ruefully, he spared a somewhat misshapen smile in her direction. “You’re right - I’m sorry.”

“That’s better,” she voiced, her smile returning full of solicitude. “I really don’t know what you’re going through, but if it’s any help, I’ll be here if you need someone to talk to…”

“Thanks, Lenalee,” he responded gratefully, reaching over to take her hand and squeeze it in a grateful movement. She really was a reliable person, and a sturdy rock of good sense, in Allen’s opinion. He was ever so glad that she was one of his friends who could understand him, even if she could not understand what he was going through. He really was a fortunate person who had everything he could possibly want…

“Anytime,” she replied readily. “You’d do the same for me.”

He smiled and slowly stood from the couch. “I don’t know if I’m that kind,” he countered thoughtfully. “I think I’ll go check up on Tyki now… If that’s all right?”

“I think you’re very kind,” she responded. “And you can - just don’t make too much noise; he needs all the rest he can get.”

Nodding in understanding, Allen quietly made his way through the living room and down the small hall. Cautiously, he turned to the door and lifted his hand, laying it flat upon the slightly open wooden partition that stood between him and the person he wanted to see. 

“-to be hard, won’t it?” 

Allen stopped short at the familiar sound of Lavi’s voice from the other side of the door. He frowned, but lowered his hand, debating on whether he should enter or not. For Lavi to talk with someone he either didn’t or barely knew was typical, but that didn’t mean Allen was not surprised by it.

“It’s going to be really hard. I mean… Well for one, you won’t be able to see any more, and it’ll probably hurt like hell while your skin’s healing up.”

Breathing out a soft sigh, Allen sidled away from the door and turned his back to it, leaning against the wall beside it as he listened to the redhead speak. Somehow, it was strangely comforting to hear Lavi talk to the slumbering man. He wasn’t certain as to why; it just was.

“But it’ll be worth it, right? You’ll still be alive. So make sure you wake up. Allen’s really worried about you and the rest of his family… So if not for yourself, then get better for him…”

Biting his lip, Allen raised a hand, prepared to push the door open. Quietly, he did so, wincing as the hinges of the door let out a creak that seemed almost piercingly loud in the languorous silence. He averted his eyes, somewhat remorseful for his eavesdropping as he felt a single emerald orb fix upon him. Parting his lips, he prepared to apologize.

“...hey, Allen,” the redhead called, his tone uncharacteristically quiet. 

After a few moments, Allen’s gaze trailed over to that of the taller male, who was knelt by the bed where Tyki lay. He blinked, unsure of what he ought to do as Lavi stood and padded over to him. He found himself staring up at the redhead, who seemed conflicted about something or another.

Within a few moments, the redhead murmured out a single question, causing Allen’s silver eyes to widen in stunned disbelief. His lips remained parted, but no words elicited from them as he merely stared, dumbstruck, at the taller male. He viewed the slight distressed creasing at the corners of the redhead’s eyes before Lavi quickly shifted and headed for the door, leaving him alone with the valetudinarian.

At an ever so slow pace, Allen’s lips finally clamped shut before pursing into a trembling line upon his pale face. His gaze lowered to Tyki, who slumbered on, face slightly contorted in the pain that even sleep could not aid in escaping.

“I have unbelievable friends, Tyki,” he whispered shakily. “I think you’ll learn that soon… I really don’t deserve them at all…” His gaze lowered to the floor as his hands clenched into fists, the nails of his malformed left hand digging viciously into his palms. “They’re amazing.”

His vision blurred as wetness registered at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to let anything fall. He had no right when he was the only person who could not do anything. He was the only one who, instead of attempting to see how he could lessen the weight of the circumstance, sat there and griped about it. After all, it was precisely that that had earned him a well-deserved slap courtesy of Lenalee. 

“I’m sorry for not doing anything about this - I’ll find out who’s doing this, and I’ll put an end to it myself. I promise.” He tilted his head back, silver eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling of the small guest room. “I’ll do it for all of you. You, Neah, and Lulu Bell.”

Swiping his hand over his eyes, he drew in a sharp breath and squared his shoulders. Allowing himself a final glance at the long-haired man upon the bed before he left the room, he attempted a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Don’t get better for me,” he countered softly. “Get better for yourself, and for him.” Without speaking further, Allen did an about-face and strode out of the room, shutting the door carefully behind him.

As he made his way to the living room, he found himself faced with the conversing Lenalee and Lavi. Upon his arrival, however, the two quickly silenced themselves and turned to face him, one with a smile, the other with a slightly forced grin. He breathed out, and once again tried a smile that didn’t quite fit his skin.

“Should I head back to my place?” he questioned. “It’s straining your hospitality a bit to stay here for the next two days, Lavi.”

“Hm? Two days? What’s going on in two days?” the redhead questioned curiously.

“The family will be holding Neah’s funeral,” he responded. “I’ll have to borrow your car, if you don’t mind…”

“That shouldn’t be too much problem~” Lavi chirped. Allen’s smile dimmed. “And you should probably stay - I’ll be leaving for a bit, and so is Lenalee, and I’m pretty sure that Tyki will need someone to keep an eye out for him.”

“Why…?” Allen asked, his smile disappearing completely. “Why are you…? I mean - why do…” he drifted off, shaking his head in frustration. What he felt, he could not even place in words. However, as he lifted his gaze back to the redhead, he caught sight of a smile that harboured no reluctance and most certainly no room for doubt.

“I have it easy, you know?” Lavi replied with a shrug. “If you’ve been greedy most of your life, is it really so bad to give?” 

A bark of incredulous laughter passed the lips of the white-haired male. “You? Greedy? I don’t see it, Lavi.”

“Either way, you can’t stop me, Allen. Go ahead and take whatever from the fridge… I’ll probably regret saying that. Anyway, I’ll be back later tonight.”

For someone so intelligent, Allen could barely believe he would make such a foolhardy decision in such a short period of time. Allen breathed out. As it so progressed, he would definitely need to remain at Lavi’s house - he had little choice now that the redhead seemed so sure of himself.

“All right,” he sighed with a heavy heart. 

“You boys are too daring for your own good,” Lenalee interjected, flashing a glance at both of them, and holding their gazes. “Learn to be selfish sometimes - it’s not necessarily a bad thing,” she advised. With her silence, the words that she spoke sank into their minds. Her gaze trembled for a moment before dark eyes were lidded by pale eyelids. She threw her arms around both of them and pulled them close, droplets of water threatening to leak from her shut eyes. “I can’t believe I’m just letting all of this happen…”

“We’re just human,” Allen assured quietly. “Things like this aren’t in our control, but--” He cut himself off, his gaze drifting over to the redhead who watched him with his one visible eye.

“The things that are in our control are for us to decide,” Lavi countered simply, emerald eye unwavering as it squarely met twin silver orbs possessed by the white-haired male. Allen breathed out and momentarily closed his eyes.

“You heard him, Lenalee. Let’s all do what we need to before we can convince ourselves not to and regret it later.”

As her arms released them, she wiped her eyes and smiled, despite the slight allusions to tears still beading at the corners of her large, dark eyes. “I need to learn from you guys. I really have to stop being a coward and start facing things like you two.”

“You’re anything but a coward, Lenalee-chan~” Lavi chirped cheerily, already heading for the door of the small home with an air of surety and almost anticipation. “Now shall we?”

Despite the twin smiles upon the faces of his two friends, Allen felt empty; as though his internal organs had disappeared from his body, and the blood that pulsed steadily through his veins did not belong to him. As they bid him temporary farewell and left the abode, he stumbled unsteadily over to the couch and collapsed upon it, mentally exhausted.

Pulling out his phone, he glanced down at it only to realize that he had missed quite a few texts from Road. He frowned slightly and read through them. 

_ Kanda wants to talk to you. _

_ He doesn’t look too good. _

_ Allen? _

_ Is something going on? _

_ I think there’s something wrong with Kanda. He asked to see Neah’s body, and he’s been acting strangely ever since. _

Without bothering to read through the remainder of the messages, Allen immediately dialled her number, his foot tapping impatiently against the floor as he waited for her to answer the call. A sigh passed his lips. From all he had seen, he doubted she would care much if Kanda was indeed acting strangely, but it had perturbed her enough to alert him, then it was imperative he hear.

“Allen? Finally…! I was beginning to worry something happened to you,” she rambled, her voice slightly tired.

“What’s wrong with Kanda?” Allen questioned, skipping straight to the point of his call. He could practically see her frown on the other side of the call as she sighed. 

“Well, if I didn’t know better, I’d say that the pretty boy’s in pain for some reason.”

“Kanda?!” Allen’s shoulders involuntarily grew tense. If there was one person other than himself who could read expressions with instinctive ease, it was Road. Even so, he found the thought of Kanda being in pain something difficult to conceive. Especially in a manner that was visible to others.

He could hear slight commotion, and soon enough, a rough clucking of the tongue was perceived by his ears. Finding himself worried for some reason or another, he waited for the raven to speak.

“Oi - moyashi.” Although the brazen voice rang clearly for him to hear, he could indeed discern the slight, almost inaudible tightness within the tone of the raven. His brow furrowed. 

“Are you all right, Kanda?” he questioned worriedly.

“Listen, moyashi,” Kanda interjected abruptly. Allen could almost claim to hear a slight desperation in his voice, but to say such would doubtless be pushing his luck. “Don’t come to the funeral.”

“What…?!” There were many things that the white-haired male would admit he would do for the raven, but not attending Neah’s funeral. His grip around his phone tightened as his eyes narrowed slightly. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but I’m not going to listen.”

“Moyashi! I’m telling you - don’t come!” Allen had to hold the phone away from his ear, as he distinguished the anger in the raven’s near hollering voice. “If you value your life and the lives of your family, then don’t come,” the doll hissed with a malevolence that cause the blood in his veins to run cold.

“Kanda…?” he breathed out, stunned. The many times Kanda had yelled at him, he had never felt the fear that he currently felt. It was a terrifying feeling that stole his breath and sped up his heartbeat to the point where he was certain it was attempting to break free from the confines of his chest. However, that fear was not triggered by the raven.

He could hear the harsh breaths that were almost pants eliciting from the lips of the long-haired male. His teeth buried themselves in his lip as he glanced at the clock. He really doubted that disobeying Kanda would result in anything pleasant, but if there was one thing he could be certain of, it was that his absence could only precipitate disaster.

“Don’t come…” Kanda rasped. “I’ll never forgive you if you do!”

Those simple words caused Allen to stop short. Why, he wasn’t certain, but they were just as effective as a death-threat, if not more so. He frowned, forcing down the fear that settled within his body until it was instead replaced by a coldness.

“Then don’t forgive me,” he murmured in response. “I need to go back. I need to make sure that my family will be all right. I need to see that you’re all right.”

His words were not graced with a response, although he had waited for nearly a minute. His eyes lowered to the wooden floor of the living room as he waited for some sort of response - any sort of response - from the raven-haired male. 

“Hello? Allen…?”

“Road?”

She frowned. “He knows more than he’s telling us - I know it,” she stated. “I’ll get information out of him…”

“No,” Allen interjected softly but firmly. “Leave him alone for now.”

“His silence could mean more deaths, Allen! You have to think rationally!”

Allen’s grasp upon his phone tightened once again, the nails of his slender digits scraping against the screen. “Road, please… Leave him alone for now - I need to go check on some things. I’ll let you know if I discover anything, all right?”

After a few moments of silence, a weary sigh passed the lips of the woman. “Fine. But I will do whatever it takes to get rid of him if he does anything against us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Kanda worried about Allen...? Aw, that's sweet~ But Allen is just as stubborn as Kanda, so he's probably not going to listen.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 10... this is longer than I intended for it to be -.-" But it doesn't matter too much, I guess. Anyway, thank you very much for bearing with my (somewhat?) erratic updating and I hope you enjoy the chapter~  
> Kanda is strung up, and with good reason...  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Drawing in a sharp breath, Kanda held it until his heart rate decided to finally comply with him and slow to a reasonable pace. Exhaling, his darkened gaze drifted over to the woman who had hung up her call with Allen. His gaze narrowed and he clucked his tongue in vexation.

Around his rigid body flew the yellow avian, bumping against his cheek and shoulders every so often in a manner that seemed almost worried. In annoyance, he moved to slap the creature away, only for its beak to enclose obdurately around his finger.

“You ought to be asleep,” he snapped irritably at Road before wincing ever so slightly as a throbbing sensation ricocheted through his body, its source being at his chest over where his heart would have been, was he a human being. 

“I’m not taking my eye off you,” she retaliated with equal sharpness as her arms crossed themselves over her chest in a stubborn movement. 

“Che.” She would need considerable stamina and be used to sleepless nights to pull off that stunt for the frame of the next few days. His jaw tightened as his fingers tightened around the flute that had once rested within his obi. Without his knowledge, a crack ran through it due to the force his limb was exerting upon it.

He knew it. He had been correct after all. But he could not carry out what he needed to as long as a pair of eyes were obstinately fixated upon him. His gaze bored holes into the marble floor below him as though it would aid in shaking this troublesome woman off his back.

“What do you know?” she interrogated for the umpteenth time, much to his displeasure. As easy as it would have been to rid himself of her, even if only temporarily, it would not place himself in favourable position with the people he was currently resigned to acquaint himself with for as long as he would remain in this place.

“That’s none of your business,” he snapped. That was, in fact, a blatant and almost impertinent lie. He would not admit it however - if it would shake her off to tell that lie, then so be it. Throughout their brusquely exchanged words, not a single glance was spared in her direction.

Ignoring her intransigent complaints he began to walk away, his goal being to lose her at some point or another, preferably sooner than later. He found his footsteps leading him through the somewhat drafty corridors that twisted through the interior of the estate creating a labyrinth that always returned to the hall of the grand staircase in some way or another. 

It seemed as though the rest of the family had retired to their respective rooms in order to rest for the night. How they could behave in such a calm manner despite the recent going-ons within this estate was beyond him. All the people he had been subjugated to the hands of were normally paralyzed by terror to the point where it would cloud their judgment and imminently result in unsatisfying kills.

That was beside the point, however. He could barely conceive the fact that such people existed. He supposed he ought to have expected it, considering the fact that Allen had not feared him upon seeing him, and had, dare he think it, treated him like he had seen his previous owners treat their friends. 

Of all the people he had been under, the most intriguing by far had to be the white-haired male. Kanda had never before found his interest so piqued by a human being. Even within this estate, he could read the inhabitants and place personalities on them with ease; but Allen was an entirely different matter. He didn’t so much intrigue Kanda as he did perplex him.

An irritated cluck of the tongue passed his lips at the thought. As he had known for a period of time so long he did not bother to recall, he despised what he could not understand. This just, conveniently, happened to be one of the few things.

He frowned. For all he knew, Allen would disregard his words and attend the funeral that was set in the next two days after this night had waned. That was the last thing he wished for, considering his goal. He was certain that, if Allen was indeed present, he would not be able to succeed in exterminating the cause of the recent pandemonium. After all, if his instincts served him correctly, it had to be… He shook his head slightly.

Footsteps at the periphery of his distracted perception barely registered in his mind as his feet led him continuously upwards to one - perhaps the only - place in this building that he found he liked…to some extent.  Drawing in a slow breath, he inhaled the brisk air of night, revelling in the bracing breeze that fluttered his raven locks to the side in a subtle motion.

“Hm…? Oh - I thought I wouldn’t have any interruptions tonight… Ah well.”

His gaze snapped over to the white-haired figure poised motionless upon the stone railing of the balcony in a cross-legged position, back turned to them. He clucked his tongue, but made no move to apologize in any way, shape or form.

“I didn’t know you’d be out here,” Road countered, leaning against the entrance as a sigh passed her lips.  “But it wasn’t really my intention to get up here either, so…”

“You can leave if you want, Road,” the male sighed, his head shifting just enough to catch a glimpse of her from the corners of his vision. “I can watch him. You’re doing all the work, so you should probably get rest.” His lazy tone implied that he cared little for the situation, but even with that allusion, she seemed to consider it.

“I can’t leave this…person with just anyone,” she retaliated, motioning to Kanda despite the fact that his head was once again turned away from them. Kanda voiced his low regard of the address with a prominent cluck of his tongue, sparing her the briefest of glares. “He’s a suspect, you know.”

“Just as much of a suspect as you and I, Road~” he drawled wryly. “It’s not him. I know it isn’t. Now go rest before you die of exhaustion.” His tone remained just as dull as always despite his apparent words of care for the wellbeing of his family member.

“Better me than anyone else,” she sighed, but backed away from the entrance. A slight tensing of hesitation manifested upon her slender shoulders as she stared unblinking at Wisely’s back. “Are you sure?” she inquired tentatively, her ready poise prepared to push back the offer of rest that had been proffered.

“Go on,” he encouraged in a monotone, the words accompanied by a sigh. “He won’t do anything to me.”

Rolling his eyes, Kanda granted the bird that was drawn close to his cheek a sharp poke to convey his irritation with it. Footsteps gradually faded as the woman descended the stairs, and eventually disappeared from both his unstrained vision and hearing.

Eyes of muted azure trailed to the back of the white-haired male, whose figure remained perfectly balanced upon his thin perch. Neither of them spoke, resulting in a delicate silence broken only by the whispering of wind through the leaves of the trees planted within the courtyard, and the odd chirping of the creature that roosted upon his shoulder.

Kanda breathed out a barely audible sigh, his gaze trailing upwards to the dark sea above him, strewn with brightly coruscating stars. His lips pressed into a noncommittal line upon his pale, slightly glowing skin. His eyes narrowed. 

The silence between the two of them was yet to be broken, but Kanda was beginning to discover that it meant little to him. He was much more content with being in the presence of someone who would tolerate his existence without speaking as opposed to someone who would virtually berate him with questions.

His gaze drifted over to the bird that had settled itself upon his shoulder, only to realize that it was asleep. He debated on whether to move it away or not before finally deciding against the action lest it wake the creature and and he earn himself another cause of vexation. He exhaled softly.

“Hey,” Wisely suddenly broke through the quiet that had sustained for a considerable amount of time. Kanda glanced over at the white-haired male only to find his gaze being met by the languid golden one of the other. “Do the words ‘Project Noah’ mean anything to you?”

Kanda’s eyes narrowed as his body fought to keep itself from growing rigid with hostility at the words that were spoken to him. He could catch glimpses of the faint satisfaction within the amber eyes at his reaction, only causing his lips to curl back with rancor. Another throb pulsated through his body causing his body to involuntarily flinch.

“Thought so.” Once again, the listless male turned completely away from him. “Maybe we’re both thinking the same thing now…” he drifted off into a yawn as he carefully pushed himself to his feet, balancing perfectly upon the flat surface of the railing. Wisely carefully turned so as to face Kanda.

The raven stared at the eyes of the other male, noting that they were not fixated upon him, but instead almost through him. Almost blankly, they were fixated upon something in the distance. Kanda tensed. His gaze flickered back as he moved quickly, bolting forward. The action caused the avian that had previously slumbered upon his shoulder to snap awake and flutter away from him, suspending itself in the air.

Quickly, he grabbed hold of the wrist of the white-haired male just as Wisely allowed his body to fall back, his gaze still distant and almost half-asleep. His fingers tightened around the wrist of the male as he made to heft him back onto the balcony before he plummeted to his death. 

“My foolish, foolish doll,” a voice hissed from behind him. He tensed, his eyes abruptly widening as another shock of pain pulsated through his body from his chest. His grip upon Wisely’s wrist tightened to the point where further pressure would most likely break the limb of the white-haired male.

“Get away from me,” he rasped softly, his wide eyes staining over in black as the fiery pain in his chest raged. He would have moved, did that not require the sacrifice of a life that was, quite literally, in his hands. As his ebony eyes gazed down at the white-haired male, he found his eyes to still be wide open, but clearly not aware of the current happenings. They were almost the eyes of the dead themselves, was it not for the pulse that still pounded against Kanda’s hand.

“How… fitting that we’d meet again,” the voice continued. Kanda could feel a pair of hands trailing over his figure. He shuddered in repulsion, not daring to so much as look back. “Now be a good, stupid doll and let go of the man.”

Kanda barely shook his head before he felt nails digging harshly into his back, threatening to crack his porcelain skin and render him invalid. 

“I said now!”

“No!” Kanda had little choice. He could either release Wisely and accurately be the murderer in the scenario, or choose to hold on to him and place his human identity in jeopardy. He could not afford to have anyone know that he was not a human, although the one currently in his grip was already aware. “You’re still as much of a coward as you used to be if you can’t even face me head on,” he snapped.

“Don’t disobey me!” the figure behind him hissed. He tensed as he register the familiar whipping sound of his precious sword being unsheathed. His jet gaze narrowed before widening as he registered a sharp cracking. Sharply, he jerked back, forcefully shoving the figure off of himself chancing the briefest of glances at who it was. He doubted he needed to. After all, he was certain he knew anyway.

Without bothering to remain for a moment longer, he threw himself off the balcony, pulling Wisely closer to his chest and shifting their positions so that he was now stationed beneath the nonplussed white-haired male. His sword had slipped through his cracked torso and was forced flat against his back as he hurtled towards the ground. 

His coal black eyes slid shut as his body made harsh contact with the ground, shattering almost immediately. His arms managed to hold up and support just long enough to ensure that the fall did not kill Wisely, merely stunning him further than what had already transpired. 

His body lay on the stone ground in fragments and the swirling blackness that resided within him flew from his frame as it was freed from its prison that was his body. It encompassed both his remains and the ignorant white-haired male that laid upon the shards that were his body, heedless to the fact that they cut into his frame.

The virtual cloak of darkness seemed to operate with a mind of it’s own as it malevolently guarded its two newfound prisoners, awaiting the moment where roles would be reversed once again, entrapping it within the hollow, porcelain frame of a foolish doll.

Said foolish doll was nearly unrecognizable. His entire torso had splintered entirely, due to bearing the brunt force of the fall. The reverberation of the contact had broken the upper parts of his legs and arms as well as his head. Although it remained surprisingly intact, part of his head lay on the cold stone in fragments, his blank, pale blue eye staring obliviously up at the night sky that he found so beautiful.

For how long the two laid there, utterly unconscious of both their situation and their surroundings was for no eyes to know, as no eyes were present to witness. The perpetrator of the circumstance too, was nowhere to be found around the pair, perhaps for the cloud of nothing but void blackness that surrounded them, threatening and obtrusive. Even that, however, was not enough to prevent a foolhardy yellow bird from fluttering into it and resting beside the crumpled golden and scarlet cloth that had once harboured an intact body.

Although shattered beyond human repair, Kanda’s body was slowly but surely beginning to piece itself together, gathering together at his chest underneath the navy sleeveless turtleneck that hid his abdomen from sight. Almost as though attracted by an unseen magnetic force, the many shards of his body began to piece themselves together and integrate. 

By the time the dark light re-entered the gaze of the raven-haired male, warm, wheat-yellow light had spilled over the east, bathing the courtyard in its mellow glow. The air hung delicately with a faint mist that glistened upon the stone building and the surrounding grass and other foliage, erupting with a subtle myriad of colour.

Kanda sighed upon the realization that the white-haired male beside him had yet to return to his senses, golden eyes still glazed over with blindness to his current situation. A frown spanned his lips as he sidled away from the male, waiting for him to awaken from his trance-like state that seemed to have been forced upon him, and had nearly been the death of him.

He tensed at a slight pricking sensation upon his shoulder, his gaze flicking over to said part of his body only to realize that the source of the disruption was none other than that ludicrously stubborn bird that actually seemed rather intelligent for an animal. He clucked his tongue and turned back to where Wisely lay, unmoving save for the rise and fall of his chest.

There was no one to witness the current scene, for which he was grateful. There was little shadow of doubt that he would be found at fault, did someone manage to catch sight of him in such a conspicuous spot with the other male who seemed half-dead, and somewhat battered from the fall. He scowled. 

Perhaps his decision had been an impetuous one, but he had little choice. He would place himself in a precarious position, had he relinquished his hold upon the wrist of the white-haired male and allowed him to plunge to a painful death onto the stone courtyard. After all, although he would have been able to do in that man, he would be held accountable for the murders that had ensued for lack of witnesses.

He scowled. It was the first time since he could recall existing that he had sacrificed his own neck for the sake of a wretched human being. It disgusted him; he had no ties whatsoever to this family, save the fact that his owner had powerful relations with them. Yet, he had acted despite his better judgment having told him that the opinions of Allen’s family on his accountability amounted to little matter.

He pushed himself to his feet and dusted off his creased clothing, frowning at the fraying edges that had accumulated at the edges of his garments. He reached down to retrieve his sword, which was most likely the cause of the fraying of fabric at his back, and slipped it back into its scarlet sheath. Wryly, he eyed his flute, crushed in the fall and broken beyond repair. He breathed out a barely audible sigh.

Subsequently, he tensed at the remembrance of just what had caused the rush of events the night before, and nearly resulted in the death of yet another member of this awfully large family. His gaze narrowed. He had not obtained a clear sight of the culprit, but he was certain he knew who it was.

If anyone would ever believe him, he didn’t know. He also doubted his ability to eradicate the person behind all this. He was even uncertain as to whether he should unveil his knowledge to Allen. After all, despite the bold words of the white-haired young man, Kanda was fully aware that the beansprout would find himself severely lacking in the heartless department; he would not be able to put an end to this situation with his own hands as he had so bravely claimed.

His jaw tightened. Since when had he begun to sympathize with humans? He shuddered in revulsion at the mere thought. After being forced to coexist with humans for almost the longest time he could recall, he found himself…not minding their company as much as he’d once assumed. The notion disgusted him.

“Wha…?” the slightly slurred word passed dark lips as the male lying before him blinked, amber gaze finally focussing after hours of being out of commission. He frowned, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at Wisely.

“Che. You took your time,” he snapped none too kindly. His tone was, in turn, repaid with the snapping of a now familiar beak around his earlobe. He flicked the insufferable creature that refused to depart from his shoulder for long, sparing it a brief glare.

“Eh…? You?” the white-haired male mumbled, gazing blearily up at him. Kanda remained silent. It would not take a considerably amount of time for the torpid man to recall what had transpired the antecedent night, especially considering his overactive mind.

“Me,” he responded sharply, frowning. 

Indolently, Wisely pushed himself to his feet, dazedly observing his surroundings and dusting off his clothing, slightly soiled by both the fall and the uncomfortable night’s rest upon stone. Kanda scrutinized him carefully waiting for any sign of remembrance.

Wisely’s shoulders abruptly tensed. Kanda could have almost nodded in satisfaction there it was. In silence, he watched the white-haired male suffer the recollections that would doubtless shock him. It would shock anyone, Kanda was certain, considering the interaction that the family had with each other on a daily basis.

“You were there, right?” the typically listless male ventured, his golden gaze drifting over to Kanda. In response, the raven merely nodded. “I was on…” Wisely’s gaze drifted upwards until it came to an abrupt rest on the balcony directly above them. Golden eyes widened in shock. “I fell?”

“You let yourself fall,” Kanda corrected irritably. And because of that, he had to dirty his hands and even render himself completely broken for hours. He tucked a lock of hair that had fallen behind his ear and sighed, leaning his weight on his left leg.

“Then how…?”

“Che. Don’t ask,” he responded tersely. Having to admit the fact that he had saved a human to himself was shameful enough; he was perfectly satisfied with not letting the man know as well. 

He turned, beginning to head towards the estate once again and intent on leaving Wisely behind, did he not follow suit. It would perhaps be best if he was not seen around the man at this point. Especially if he aimed to terminate someone else…

“I might have been wrong… But the last thing I remember was--”

“You’re not wrong,” Kanda interpolated without even sparing a glance at the white-haired male behind him. He could virtually feel the palpable tension radiating off Wisely as he once again re-entered the estate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...one more day and one criminal to catch. You can do it, Kanda...!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 11 ^.^ Thank you all very much for your continued support, and I do hope you enjoy this chapter. A little bit of Lucky because they're adorable and I really couldn't resist~  
> Yay - a lot of dialogue because who doesn't like reading about people talking..?  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

For the duration of the night, Allen found that he could not sleep for the anxiety that plagued his mind. Unfortunately, unlike the night he had spent within the family estate, there was little he could do to entertain himself within the redhead’s home.

Upon the couch, he laid restlessly, shifting and rolling over as he attempted to catch even scant minutes of sleep. This proceeded for hours on end until the light of dawn poured into the room, dimming the lights of lamps and what other sources illuminated the expanse.

Sitting up, he blinked owlishly, a yawn passing his lips. Lavi had said that he would return in the later hours of the night, but he had yet to return. Somewhere within his mind, Allen could not resist the sobering thought that perhaps something unfavourable had occurred.

Thankfully, before he could grant himself the benefit of the doubt, the sound of a door being open broke through the otherwise silent air, startling him. He immediately jumped to his feet and made his way over to the door as it was pushed open by none other than Komui. 

“Good morning, Allen~ I hope you rested well!” the doctor chirped, animatedly parading into the living room with a large bag in hand.

The white-haired male, in turn, smiled somewhat lopsidedly and waved in greeting. “I wish… Good morning to you too,” he responded, holding the door open as he sighted his other two friends approaching the door at a much more sedate pace.

“Hey, Allen-chan~” Lavi greeted in a slightly singsong tone, flashing a two fingered salute to the wall beside him as Lenalee gently pushed him through the door. Allen’s smile grew strained, but he forcefully maintained it as he nodded.

“Hi, Lavi,” he responded. “Lenalee.” 

“Sorry - mind taking him for now?” Lenalee quickly interjected, grabbing the redhead’s wrist and setting his hand on Allen’s shoulder. “I need to go assist my brother…” With those words, she sidestepped and bolted for the guest room within which Komui had already disappeared, leaving the two young men by the door.

Silently, Allen shut the door before laying a hand on the redhead’s back, carefully guiding him down the hall and to the living room before pushing him somewhat aggressively into a seated position upon the couch.

“Why?” he grated tightly, his hands on the shoulder’s of the taller male and eyes staring at his bandaged face. “Do you have any idea how much you’ve just thrown away? Lavi, you won’t be able to attend your classes like normal! You won’t be able to live by yourself! Why would you just throw everything away like that? What if you turn out to be incompatible? What then?!”

His eyes widened at the lack of reaction from the redhead, who merely sat in an uncharacteristic silence, head tilted upwards slightly as though he could see him. Allen’s jaw tightened as he released the shoulders of the taller male. “You barely even know him…”

“Does that really matter?” Lavi queried after an uncomfortable moment of dead silence. "And…I'm pretty much a hundred percent sure that we're compatible." Was Allen to pay just a little more attention, he would have noted the slight frown that fluttered over the lips of the redhead.

“Yes, it does matter!” Allen retaliated sharply, gaze momentarily faltering. “It’s like you’re throwing away your chances at a normal life! Don’t you know how that affects the people around you?”

A somewhat dry chuckle passed the lips of the redhead as he reached out and grabbed Allen’s shoulder, tugging him onto the couch and into a seated position. “Oh, yeah, I do,” he affirmed. “I heard something similar from Lenalee too, you know? I think I’d be in more danger of being accidentally killed by Komui than by anything else - he’s scary when he sees someone make Lenalee cry.”

“Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Allen challenged, shoulders rigid yet shaking ever so slightly.

“Of course it does! I’m not heartless, you know? But…” the redhead drifted off, a ruminative frown spanning his lips. “You know, Allen, when you saw Kanda for the first time and then heard that he was on sale, what was the first thing that you thought?”

Allen frowned, unsure of how that had much to do with the current circumstance that was both out of his control, and certainly not to his liking. “I had to buy him. He was just so beautiful that I had to buy him.”

“That’s your answer,” Lavi replied with ease. “It’s as simple as that.”

For a few moments, Allen sat silent, befuddled by his words. How did purchasing Kanda relate to this situation?

“I had to. When I saw him, I knew I had to,” Lavi clarified, tilting his head slightly. “I know what I did, and I know the consequences.” The redhead tucked his hands behind his head, leaning against them and allowing a sigh to pass his lips. “Not sure why. He seemed like the kind of guy that’s lost a lot, you know? Even though I saw him conscious for a short amount of time, it seemed as though he wouldn’t have minded dying.”

Allen flinched at the words. As much as he hated to admit it, Lavi’s words were the truth. He couldn’t find it in his heart to condemn the older man for the behaviour either. After all, Allen understood how he must have felt, almost losing and losing people that he cared deeply for.

“Sorry,” the redhead broke into his thoughts somewhat ruefully. “Maybe I should’ve been a bit more tactful?” 

Allen shook his head, momentarily forgetting the fact that Lavi could not see him. “It’s all right,” he assured. “But I should probably apologize for snapping at you…” he drifted off, his frown deepening.

“I’d do the same to you,” Lavi responded, shrugging slightly. “It’s nothing to apologize for.” He lowered his arms to his sides and leaned against the back of the couch, head tilted back to face the ceiling. “I really hope it works. I think he’ll look a little strange with green eyes though…”

A faint chuckle passed Allen’s lips at the words. “I don’t think he’d have much to complain about though.”

“Hm. He might look weird with my eyes though - who knows,” the redhead jibed light-heartedly. “Maybe they’ll be too bright for his skin or something.”

“Maybe~” Allen concurred absently. “I think it’ll work. Komui’s one of the best in the medical field after all, right? And Lenalee’s following in his footsteps too. I just really hope you don’t reg--”

“I won’t,” Lavi interpolated. “I definitely won’t. If he’ll be able to see again, then I won’t regret it.”

“You know… I think you owe me,” Allen continued thoughtfully, paying no heed to the fact that he had been interrupted. “I think I know how you felt when you said you wouldn’t let me go back to the estate. But after what you did, I think the least you can do is let me go back.”

“Oh, wow, this is how my friend treats me after I do them a favour. I feel so loved,” Lavi jested sarcastically. However, there was a smile upon his lips. “Just make sure you don’t get hurt, all right? And yeah - you can borrow my car. It’s not like I’ll be using it very often any more… I guess I should apologize to the old geezer for being a waste of his money.”

“Thanks,” the shorter of the two responded gratefully. “I’m sorry - I know I’m being a little insistent lately, but I really can’t leave my family alone now… And I have to attend Neah’s funeral.”

“It’s no problem,” the redhead assured, turning to face him. “But I really hope you don’t take him with you.”

“I wasn’t planning to,” Allen replied almost immediately. He hadn’t the slightest idea of what would betide, did Tyki appear once more in the estate. After all, he had either been left for dead, or was merely an unfinished work. Allen would not risk the life of the man for the sake of a funeral. He couldn’t.

“That’s good…” 

Allen leaned against the cushioned back of the couch, breathing out a sigh. All of this ought to have tired him out, but he just could not sleep… Another lengthy yawn left his lips as he blinked away the slight haze that settled over his vision.

“Did you even get any sleep?” Lavi broke in, causing him to smile a little sheepishly.

“Not really,” he admitted. Maybe because I was knocked out for almost half of yesterday,” he added, faint traces of sarcasm in his voice. He hadn’t felt any pain upon regaining consciousness, though, not as was typical of being hit on the head. He could, however, recall an all but gentle hand upon his eyes.

“See? He’s dangerous, Allen.”

“He was doing it for my sake; even if I didn’t agree with him,” Allen immediately defended. “I don’t know why he would, though…”

“You should stay away from him.”

Allen sighed. “We’ve been over this how many times…? I’m not changing my mind, Lavi.” He straightened his back and stared at the wall opposite of them. “I couldn’t have convinced you to keep your eyes; you can’t convince me to stay away from Kanda. I need to make sure he’s all right…”

“Why wouldn’t he be? He did say that he couldn’t die or something like that,” the redhead countered. 

“I talked to him after you and Lenalee left,” Allen stated. “He seemed… I don’t know how to explain it. But I’m worried about him.” He fell silent, a frown curving over his lips. Why was it that Kanda had sounded almost desperate? Such an emotion had no place within the disposition of the raven. 

“...Allen, do you hate him at all?” the redhead questioned, almost apprehensively.

“No - why?”

“If he turned out to be the one behind the murder, would you hate him?”

Allen frowned. Would he? That wasn’t a question he was certain he would be able to answer with full certainty. “I’m not sure…” he murmured. Why he hadn’t said yes, he didn’t know. He could feel a burning vengeance in his veins at the thought of bringing Neah and Lulu Bell’s killer to justice, but at the thought of it being Kanda… It couldn’t be. It just couldn’t be; he had faith that it could not be Kanda. “It isn’t him,” he contended confidently. “It definitely isn’t.”

“How long will you keep insisting that?” Lavi questioned with a sigh. “But if you’re right and that thought was like mine, then I guess I really can’t change your mind.”

“I’m the only one who can change my mind, Lavi, “he responded. “And I don’t think that’ll be happening anytime soon.”

“Not sure whether that’s a good thing or not,” came the wry comment. Allen couldn’t resist the faint smile that crossed his lips. 

“Will Lenalee be staying with you for now?” Allen quickly redirected. “I mean - until you’re used to it and all…”

“Maybe, maybe not. Maybe if she does, Komui will do more than cut out my eyes,” he joked in response. Allen allowed a slight chuckle to pass his lips.

“Wonderful imagery,” he interjected dryly.

“Thank you!” Lavi chirped.

Allen chuckled and pushed himself to his feet, glancing over at his friend. “I should probably get something for us to eat. You didn’t eat for a day, did you?”

“Of course I di--” The convenient grumbling of the redhead’s stomach immediately negated his unfinished sentence. 

Allen rolled his eyes fondly and began to head for the kitchen. “I’ll just go grab something from the fridge,” he called back. No complaint was uttered from the lips of the redhead, urging him on.

Upon stepping into the kitchen, he grabbed the handle of the refrigerator door, opening it in an abrupt movement. Searching through the shelves, he sighed and pulled from them the conventional ham sandwich ingredients. Setting it upon the counter, he swiftly assembled the simple dish; three for Lavi, as the redhead had a normal appetite, and the rest for himself.

He could not fight back the slightest twinges of guilt at the fact that he was sating his monstrous appetite at the expense of the redhead. He would need to pay back what he owed Lavi later. After all, he could afford to dispense money for the sake of Lavi, who had already done more than what he could possibly pay for.

He placed the finished sandwiches upon a plate that he had absently pulled from a cabinet. Subsequently, he returned the containers and unused ingredients to their place in the fridge, washed the knife that he had utilized, and set it to dry. Retrieving the plate, he turned and made his way back to the living room.

Settling the plate neatly on the coffee table, he grabbed a sandwich and placed it in the redhead’s hand for him before taking one for himself. Biting into it, he chewed in silence, his eyes fixed upon the food like it was the most interesting of things.

“Hey, Allen…” Lavi’s voice drifted vaguely into his distracted ears. His gaze snapped over to the redhead only to find that his fingers were intent on murdering the sandwich within his hands, they were digging so harshly into it. 

Allen frowned faintly. “Yes?”

The taller of the pair was silent for a few moments before shaking his head. “...never mind. Not worth saying,” he quickly responded before taking a bite of it. 

Allen stared at him for a few short moments before simply nodding and polishing off the food in his hands with ease. He grabbed another and continued to eat.

Within the next few minutes, the plate was empty, save a lone sandwich, which Allen spared for the redhead, did he wish to eat more. However, Lavi made no move to request for it, much less retrieve it for himself. Allen breathed out and glanced up at the clock that hung upon the wall.

The more he wished for time to pass, the more sedately it seemed to crawl in a manner that made him near want to break those insufferably slow hands. He so badly wanted to return to the estate and aid his family instead of being entrapped within the abode of his friend.

It was most likely a selfish thought, he admitted with great reluctance. After all, at this moment, the schedules of the people surrounding him were not exactly unoccupied. He was perhaps even needed here, but… He frowned. If only things didn’t progress as they had…

Somewhere within the periphery of his mind, he couldn’t help but wonder if things would have been different, did he not purchase Kanda that day he had first set eyes on him. It wasn’t remorse that he felt, but merely apprehensive interest; desire to be aware of the supplementary possibilities.

Even without Kanda, the same events may have transpired, but Allen would have no one that he could hold confidence in, not because his family was unreliable, but because they were human. Kanda could not die, after all… or so he had claimed. 

In spite of everything, he couldn’t help but contradict himself. Undying or not, he did genuinely worry about the other. Notwithstanding his brusque exterior, Allen felt that he needed to be treated not as a perishable doll purchased for the sake of momentary desire, but as a human. After all, Kanda possessed two prominently human attributes, namely a body and a soul.

Allen could not bring himself to regret procuring the doll. He couldn’t. What it had been that had compelled him to buy Kanda was the instantaneous and instinctive possessiveness that he had experienced upon setting eyes on the raven. He wanted Kanda, heedless of the cost or consequences.

It was clear that the raven, however, failed to sympathize with his sentiments. After all, he bore an inherent hatred for humanity in general, for what reason Allen knew not. He could not currently press the matter, but he wished he had before. After all, without knowledge, he could do nothing about whatever the situation was.

“-llen?” the sigh broke through his thoughts. He registered something poking at his cheek, only to realize that it was Lavi’s finger. He blinked and stared curiously at the redhead. At his movements, the taller male lowered his hand and grinned at him. “Who left and took your brain with them?” he teased. Allen’s face reddened ever so slightly in rue. The answer, he grudgingly admitted to himself, was Kanda.

“Yes?”

“Oh, good, you’re alive. What time is it?”

Allen’s eyes flickered over to the clock. “6:20,” he responded. 

Lavi seemed vaguely surprised by the response, cocking his head slightly before straightening up once again and shrugging. “They’ve been in there for about two hours now…”

“Have they…?” Allen hadn’t noticed. He did know that both Komui and Lenalee had escaped directly to the guest room upon arriving, but upon further thought, he realized that Lavi was indeed correct. For the past two hours, they had been tirelessly working. He flinched. The mere thought made him feel utterly useless.

“Yeah,” Lavi responded. “I wonder if they’re all right…”

“I’m sure they are.” Allen glanced down the hall to the shut door of the guest room. With the silence of both Lavi and he himself, not a sound could be heard from the room. He trusted them, after all. They had earned themselves a reputation as reliable for a reason, after all.

“You’re right,” the redhead concurred, smile still present upon his lips. To Allen, it seemed as though he wanted to speak further, but no words left his lips. The shorter of the pair frowned faintly in thought, eyes lwering to the floor.

“Say, Lavi… What will you do now?” he diverted. “I mean…”

“I’ll go to school, I’ll study, and I’ll do what I’m supposed to do,” Lavi replied without a trace of uncertainty in his voice. 

In surprise, Allen’s silver gaze snapped over to the redhead. “....pardon?”

“It’s definitely going to be a lot harder now, but it’s not impossible with work. I mean - I can’t just let my old man’s money go to waste, right? He’d probably kick me out through the roof if I did.”

“But--”

“Have I ever told you I love challenges, Allen-chan~?” he sang, grinning. “If this is life’s next challenge, then I’ll figure it out. It’s more interesting when there are problems, right? There isn’t any real feeling of accomplishment if you only stick to easy things.”

Allen fell silent, a smile playing at the corners of his lips as he stared at the bandages that were wrapped around Lavi’s head. How he could always act in such a way, was almost beyond him. But Lavi was right, and if the redhead had the courage to face such a situation with a smile, Allen was certain that he himself would be able to do the same eventually.

“You’re all amazing,” he stated simply, shaking his head. “You, Lenalee, Komui… everyone. You’re all just amazing.” 

“Hm…? Where’d that come from all of a sudden?” 

“Oh - nothing really; just a thought,” the white-haired male responded absently, staring almost blankly at the second hand of the clock, watching it tick painstakingly slow seconds. Although he could vaguely hear Lavi saying something or another, the majority of his attention was focussed upon the loud ticking that seemed to resonate within his mind as he stared, almost unblinking, at the clock, waiting.

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he kept his gaze fixed uncompromisingly upon the device, not taking the time to listen to whatever it was Lavi was saying. The redhead managed to note the fact within a few minutes and ceased to speak.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of uncomfortably dead silence save the ticking of the clock, the sound of creaking hinges violently broke through the air, and Allen immediately turned in the direction of the noise, monochrome gaze landing upon the dark-haired woman who had just left the guest room.

Upon shutting the door, she pulled her surgical mask from her face and smiled at him. “We’re finished,” she informed, stepping over to them. “Brother is just checking on a few things. He should be awake later today. He might be a little out of it, but that’s normal.”

Allen had no will to hide the utterly relieved smile that spread over his lips and shone within his silver gaze. Beside him, although he had yet to see it, the redhead matched his smile impeccably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaand thus we see what Lavi did. That sweetheart - I love him so much...but he belongs to Tyki ;P


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here be dragons. Not really...just a new chapter ^.^" Thank you very much for all the support on this - it means a lot ^.^ Back to the estate now - I wonder what'll happen now...  
> Kanda isn't very happy. Or more unhappy than usual..?  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

“Fainted…? Are you sure?”

“It’s difficult to not be, dear. Dead faint, and I just can’t wake him up. I highly doubt it’s dangerous, though.”

The consternating words met Kanda’s ears the moment his foot made contact with the marble floor of the estate. His frown gradually curved into a malicious scowl as another throb resonated through his body from his chest. His jaw tightened and he crossed his arms over his chest in an irritated motion. 

Behind him, he could sense the shifts in weight courtesy of the only slightly battered up white-haired male that signalled his faint unease as they traversed the corridor. His eyes narrowed as he shut out the conversation entirely, redirecting himself to the direction of the first place he had been led to within this inconveniently large building.

Eyes that mirrored a cloudless sky drifted back to the white-haired male following behind him and, despite his conventional expression of boredom and listlessness, held an aura of discomfiture. Kanda clucked his tongue and sighed. “You’ll be following me,” he stated. Whether it was meant to be a question or a command, he was uncertain.

“Sure,” the male responded, rolling his shoulders slightly as his footsteps grew from sedate to brisk.

Without sparing him another glance, Kanda proceeded through the corridor with a frown. His clothing had indeed become frayed, he noted, eyeing the hem of his kimono. Strange that it would occur now if it had not shown any sign of decaying for the past many years.

His sharp gaze drifted over the many doors until they landed upon a pair that he recognized down to the detail although only having seen it once. Without allowing his mind to falter, he stepped up to it, and pushed it open, gaze tracing over the circular room.

His gaze fell upon the figure lying on the bed. Approaching the article of furniture, he stared down at the ashen features of the long-haired male. His gaze narrowed as his lips pursed into a thin line upon his own porcelain face. His eyes drifted back to where Wisely stood, not quite beside him.

Finally, he lowered onto his knees beside the bed, and lowered his ear just above the chest of the man, listening in utter silence. His frown deepened. Raising his hand, he progressed to check the man’s pulse. In silence, he stood up once again.

Lowering his hand onto Mana’s chest, he allowed it to rest momentarily. His gaze narrowed as he then trailed his hand up the man’s figure, slowing to a stop upon his eyes. Kanda paused, as if waiting, before withdrawing his hand and watching as adulterated amber eyes revealed themselves to the conscious world.

“....ah…” Slowly, the dark-skinned male pushed himself into a seated position, resting his back against the headboard of the bed and blinking away the haze that had settled over his eyes. Kanda stared at him with a frown. It was only met with a gentle but tired smile. “May I help you with anything…?”

Slightly behind him, Kanda could feel the implied questioning in the presence of the torpid male. He paid no visible heed to it, however, instead keeping his pale blue gaze fixed upon the one before him. “Someone needs to keep an eye on you, or you’ll become the next victim,” he stated bluntly.

His words seemed to startle the long-haired male, causing the corners of his eyes to crease in thickly veiled distress. “It’s better if it’s me than anyone else,” Mana responded, tone airy and even somewhat shaky. “I know that I’m just a burden in all of this…”

“Che. That’s something you’d get slapped for saying,” the raven snapped, his eyes narrowing. “If you die, then that stupid beansprout will never let it go. I’ve had just about enough of his griping about how he could have done something about all of this.” The confession caused a momentary silence within the room as two pairs of golden eyes fixated him. He, however, flatly refused to take his words back.

To his surprise, a faint chuckle passed the lips of the man sitting before him. “...you care an awful lot for my dear Allen,” Mana observed, his head tilted slightly. A fresh smile crept onto his dark yet pallid features. “I’m glad…”

Almost untraceable hints of puzzlement drifted into Kanda’s blue gaze as he kept it trained on the other. To his slight astonishment, the fact did not pass by Mana’s eyes unheeded. His frown deepened as the man reached out to touch the bare skin of his upper arm, near his shoulder. Almost instinctively, he shifted away.

Mana did not seem to mind that fact, merely staring down at his hand although it had suddenly and inexplicably become one of the most interesting things on the planet. “You’re cold like me,” he murmured, looking up from his hand to the raven.

In turn, Kanda’s gaze narrowed. “What’s your point?” he bit out aggressively. 

“Hm… Oh - nothing really,” the man responded with a pleasant smile that didn’t quite hide the dark spots under his eyes. “Maybe if I am the next in line to die, I’ll get to see Neah again. I never did expect him to be the one to leave first…” Mana’s smile saddened as his voice took on a tremor that was barely audible to the unobservant ear.

“Well, then who’s more important to you?” Kanda challenged. “Your family that are still alive, or him, who is dead?”

“I didn’t mean it like that…” the man responded calmly, his eyes squarely meeting Kanda’s own. “Whether I live or I die, it is a gain for me.”

“Selfish,” Kanda concluded. He had no right to make such a judgment, as he was well aware, but it had passed his lips before he could bite down upon his tongue. The man merely chuckled once again and smiled up at him as though his words had been spoken out of affection and not out of spite.

“Maybe it is,” he agreed. “But I’m a very selfish person to begin with. You, however… You don’t seem very selfish at all.”

The words resounded through Kanda’s mind in a manner that was almost physically painful as another throb surged over his body. He winced slightly and glared at the man for the unwanted pronouncement. It was clearly false. Everything that he had accomplished since his creation to this very moment was for his own sake, and none else. Except…maybe that one time where he had saved Wisely. He shook his head inwardly. That could not be it; he just hadn’t wished to be blamed for murder.

“Shut up,” he snapped abruptly.

“That must have seemed presumptuous of me… I apologize,” Mana responded simply before falling silent. 

“Che.” Kanda made an abrupt one-eighty and began to head out of the room without so much as declaring it to the two others that were within. The rudeness did not seem to perturb the sickly of the two. Who merely watched him with a soft expression.

A somewhat apologetic glance was spared for Mana, courtesy of the white-haired male in the room who then proceeded to pursue Kanda at the nod of assurance from the long-haired male. 

The raven stalked sourly through the corridor at his own erratic pace despite having registered the footsteps of the white-haired male behind him. He breathed out an irritated sigh. If there was one thing other than humans that he despised, it was being treated patronizingly. 

He frowned as the other male gradually drew closer to him until he was near stepping beside him. Pointedly, he spared not a glance at Wisely. He did, however, start slightly as a familiar, small, yellow-feathered body hurtled towards him from wherever it had disappeared to. He hadn’t even taken note of its disappearance to begin with, it being nothing more than extra weight upon his shoulder. Allowing it to settle on said body part and nestle close to his neck, as any attempts at ridding himself of it would prove fruitless, he continued to walk sullenly through the halls, not a word passing his or his company’s lips. 

“You!” 

Kanda resisted the inherent urge to groan at the recognizable voice of the woman whom he had assumed would not cling to him like a parasite and constantly beleaguer him. Not bothering to acknowledge her presence, he merely stared past her, his eyes still virulently narrowed.

“Don’t ignore me,” she sighed, crossing her arms over her chest. Her eyes drifted over to Wisely and her arm elongated, pointing him in the direction of the dining hall. “You go eat,” she advised, most likely a method to cause his leave and result in their solitude. 

Kanda would have nodded in agreement. After all, the man’s body must have strained itself as it did not appear as though Wisely was one for arduous exercise. He most likely needed to either eat, sleep, or both. However, Kanda would not deem it wise for the white-haired male to be left on his own. He had nearly lost his life the night before.

“Che. Get out,” he concurred in morose agreement, his sharp gaze flickering over to the white-haired male. In response, Wisely merely shrugged disarmingly and trudged off in the direction he was sent, leaving the two.

“Now, ‘Road began, pulling her spiky locks away from her dusky face, “What did you do.”

“What do you mean?” he questioned brusquely. 

“You know what I mean,” she badgered. “Why is Wisely bruised? Not only that - the way he walks now is as though he hurt his back somehow.” 

“Maybe I had sex with him,” Kanda snapped crossly, his irritation getting the better of him. 

Road’s eyes widened as the skin of her cheeks darkened to an almost cherry shade at the unexpected response. Her palm met her forehead in mortified frustration as her jaw tightened. Lowering her hand, she glared pointedly at him. “I want a serious answer!” she demanded.

“Che. If you’re so desperate to know, then why don’t you just ask him instead of me?” the raven suggested, clearly not in the mood to entertain anyone at the current moment. 

“Why must you be so difficult?” she sighed, a frown playing on her neutral lips. 

“That’s how I was made,” he responded curtly. “Are you done with the questions or not?”

“Look. You’re not in my good books, but if Wisely said you weren’t the one behind it, then you aren’t.”

Well that was an unexpected development. Kanda was rendered silent for a few brief moments as he stared, nonplussed, at the shorter woman. He frowned and clucked his tongue before sighing. “And what are you trying to get at?” he finally pressed.

“I’ll help you,” she finally offered after a few seconds of prideful hesitation. “Since you’re apparently also trying to figure out this entire situation anyway.”

“Che. I don’t need help,” he stated churlishly. He could see the widening of her eyes in indignance, but spared her no time to speak. “I know who’s behind this, and I’ll see to it myself.”

“Why? I barely know you and you barely know me, but this is our problem and not yours!” she protested. He rolled his eyes. It was clear that she was attempting to swallow her pride, but he was not one for diplomacy over bluntness.

“You’re wrong,” he contradicted abruptly and firmly. “This is my problem. But you’re all the cause of it.”

“Why you--!” Her hand drifted precariously close to where she concealed her penknife, and his eyes followed the dark appendages. His gaze narrowed as he tugged the left sleeve of his kimono further up his arm, almost to his shoulder but not quite.

“So don’t interfere,” he concluded. “If you interfere, you  _ will  _ die.” 

“Don’t underestimate me!” she grated, her arm suddenly snapping forward. Kanda’s frown deepened as he traced the scar that she had created upon his porcelain jaw, drawing no blood. As his fingers left the skin, it pieced itself together once again, fusing into an impeccable display.

“I’m not,” he responded, his gaze darkening as the faintest wisps of malevolent black slipped into his clear gaze. “I’m just stating facts. Do not interfere!”

“What…are you…?”

Kanda’s frown transitioned into a scowl at the seemingly unrelated prevarication until he realized that the blade of the small knife was still held upwards, but lowered from his jawline to his neck. He frowned, raising his arm until his digits prevented the blade from any contact with his neck. Stiffly, he pushed the implement away from his being, glaring down at her. “What sort of answer do you want to that?” he bit out irately.

To his words, she had no response as her arm lowered itself to her side in a stunned motion. He frowned in discomfiture, the revelation of his mistake obstructing his mind. His lips parted, but no words left them, resulting in an ill-at-ease silence progressing between them.

It was one of the rare times where he had no wish to kill a person upon their discovery of his true identity, namely because this person was not his owner; not his master. He frowned, his hand raising itself to the hilt of his sword. All of this was so troublesome… If he were to kill this woman, he would need to eradicate Wisely as well. With all the pandemonium, there would be no doubt others would see him for what he was, and they would die because of it.

His gaze never left her, making note of every visible shift of her body. He could see that she had not yet recovered from the doubtless unconventional fact that he was not a human. Ironically, he found himself somewhat surprised by the reaction after dealing with Allen’s almost-nonchalance.

“What are you going to do now?” he questioned testily, body at the ready notwithstanding the fact that she could not possibly kill him even if she attempted to. The tension within the air was finally broken as she pocketed the knife and sighed, her gaze growing inscrutable to even his eyes.

“I need to think,” she muttered, walking off. To his vague delight, the yellow avian upon his shoulder decided to fly after her. Turning his back to her, he directed himself opposite of where she was headed. 

He abruptly sidestepped as he registered the shifting of footsteps, and dodged the small but sharp implement that was aimed for the back of his neck, clucking his tongue as a few strands of his hair were sheared off. His gaze trailed back to the woman whose gaze did not quite meet his own.

“You can’t kill me,” he informed bluntly. “So don’t bother trying.” 

Locks of spiky dark hair shadowed her eyes as she once again lowered her knife. “Why are you with Allen?” she questioned, her knuckles blanching as her grip upon the instrument in her hands grew tighter. “What does he know that he isn’t telling me?”

Kanda clucked his tongue and scowled down at her. “That doesn’t matter. He has nothing to do with this.”

That was another barefaced lie. If anything, Allen played a crucial role in this entire charade, even if he wasn’t aware of it. And much to Kanda’s chagrin, the white-haired male was playing his role completely and utterly incorrectly. The corners of Kanda’s red-framed eyes creased in the slightest of winces.

“He’s the one that brought you here; of course he has something to do with this!” 

They ought to be grateful for the fact that Allen had brought him here! If the white-haired male had left him within his small home by the university’s campus, then they would never solved this game that they were all unwittingly playing into. Kanda clucked his tongue.

“Listen. Even if the enemy of your enemy doesn’t equal a friend…” he nearly spat out the word, “Worry about that when the mutual enemy is gone.”

He frowned and turned his back to her once again, prepared to walk off. However, before he had the chance to, the sound of a phone ringing registered in both their ears. Stopping short, he glanced back at the woman as she retrieved her phone and answered it.

“Yes? Good morning, Allen…” she drifted off, her lips curving into a faint frown. He watched with narrowed eyes in faint curiosity. “What…?!” Her eyes widened. “You mean… No - why?” She began to chew on her bottom lip. “How did he even--?” As moments slipped through their fingers, she was rendered silent, merely listening in stupefaction. 

Sidling back, he took the phone from her grasp without permission, and held it to his ear. “Moyashi.”

“It’s Allen!”

“One name’s as good as another as long as you respond - I already told you that.”

“...is everything all right over there?”

“Of course it is,” he responded sarcastically. “Someone’s picking apart your family and that other one with white hair almost got killed last night.”

“What?!”

“I’m saying that he almost died last night. Listen to me, moyashi. If you’re going to insist on coming back, you’d better not disturb me - I know who’s behind this.”

“Who is it?”

“Don’t interfere in situations that you don’t need to be caught up in, idiot.”

“This is a situation I need to be part of! This is my family!”

“That doesn’t mean it’s your problem! If you come, you will make sure you don’t interfere!” 

“Won’t you at least tell me who’s doing all of this? It’s my family - I need to make sure whoever it is is gone.”

“No you don’t. That’s my job. If you get in my way, I’ll kill you.”

The air was still. Kanda was well aware that Road’s fingers were trailing perilously close to where she secluded her penknife, and was well aware that she would not hesitate to incapacitate, if not kill him. He blatantly refused to take his words back however.

Perhaps if he continued to goad the white-haired male, then Allen would finally begin to hate him. If that were to happen, then he would be able to finish his work again and once more become an immobile doll until further notice. Playing the part of human was tiresome.

“You’ll only be a burden to me anyway,” he sneered unpleasantly. “If you don’t even show up, then everyone here will be better off.”

“...Kanda?” The tone of the shorter male was muted, but did not seem hurt, much to his chagrined surprise.

“What.”

“You’re intending to get hurt. I won’t let you. I don’t care if you’re capable or not - I can’t let you get yourself hurt. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The raven would have almost groaned at the unwanted words eliciting from the lips of the one speaking to him. He frowned. “Che. You really are an idiot.” He winced.

“Maybe I am, but I’d rather be stupid than have you hurt. I bought you myself, Kanda. You belong to me, and I won’t let anyone else harm you. You’re probably a lot stronger than me, and you’re probably intent on killing me, but that doesn’t matter.”

Kanda was rendered silent by the words. An unspeakable sensation crept into his chest. He was not certain of what it was, but it felt nothing like the pain that radiated through his body at occasional intervals. However, he could not hide the anger he felt at the words of the white-haired male.

“I don’t ‘belong’ to anyone!” he snapped, his grip on the phone in his hand tightening. “And least of all, you! I  _ will  _ kill you for that!” 

“...” There was a small pause at the other end of the line. “...you’re right - I’m sorry for saying it like that. That’s a bit misleading, isn’t it?” Allen apologized. “I mean to say that I don’t want you to take all of this on yourself. It might be your problem as much as mine, but I won’t let you shoulder it by yourself. I really care about you, Kanda. I know I’m supposed to hate you or something, but I just can’t. I want to protect you even if you’re immortal, and if that means facing this by your side, then I will. You can’t stop me.” The final sentence left the lips of the white-haired male obstinately, causing Kanda to grit his teeth in ire.

“Don’t talk to me about something so loathsome,” he grated out. “Nothing like that lasts, and you can’t change that. I don’t want your empty words, and I don’t want your help either, so just forget about whatever far-fetched idea you have.”

A sigh entered his auditory perception. “If you say so,” Allen responded passively. “I think I made a bad move, saying something like that over the phone…” A faint chuckle followed the words. “So I’ll tell you again tomorrow when I actually see you, all right? But I should probably go now, so bye~” And with that, Kanda found that the call had been hung up.

He lowered the phone and glared at it as though it had wronged him before lobbing it over to the woman who played her knife upon her fingers warningly. She caught the device and glared at him.

“I’ll find out some way to kill you if you even try to hurt Allen,” she threatened. 

He rolled his eyes and began to walk off. That irksome bird decided to follow him this time, much to his displeasure. He scowled at the ground as the blackness contained within him swirled restlessly. Raising his hand, he laid it over his own eyes, fingernails digging into his skin. All of this was fit to make him vomit, it disgusted him so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was Allen going to say it...? Was he finally going to say it...? Allen...? No..? aw -.-


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly but surely progressing to the finish line~ yay~ Chapter 13 the filler-like chapter before all the actual exciting stuff happens...  
> D.Gray-man belongs to Hoshino Katsura~

Allen pocketed his phone. Perhaps he shouldn’t have spoken so hastily. After all, there was a reason behind how everyone acted, and there was most certainly a reason behind why Kanda was as hostile as he was. That however, did not make his words to the raven any less truthful. He pocketed his phone and cast a glance around the room he had temporarily occupied so that no one would hear him. Breathing out, he left the room. 

Kanda had labeled it as naivety the first time Allen had met him subsequently to apparently granting him his soul. The white-haired male could not exactly deny the accusation. After all, people did tend to label the platitude phrase of ‘love at first sight’ as nothing but fleeting infatuation. Allen was uncertain as to just why he had come to that conclusion upon musing on his actions and thoughts towards Kanda, but it made unfortunate sense.

He frowned slightly. Lavi had said that the doll thrived off of hatred, but Allen was fully aware that he did not hate the raven. He couldn’t help but feel apprehensive as to what this could possibly mean for Kanda. If he did hate the raven, it would doubtlessly result in his untimely death, but if he didn’t hate Kanda… would that weaken the doll? Would it drain Kanda of his life?

That was not even the last thing on the list of things Allen wanted. It had no place at all on that list. He left the room and stepped down the hall, passing by the guest room from which Komui had yet to leave, and to the living room where his two friends sat upon the couch.

Upon entering the living room, he realized that Lenalee had fallen asleep, head resting against the shoulder of the redhead. Allen smiled, and opted to occupy the vacant spot at Lavi’s left so as not to disturb the woman. He had little doubt that the stress must have finally worn her out. After all, she was not yet licensed and her actions could potentially be illegal if discovered…but no one had the intention of spreading the information anyway.

His eyes drifted over to the clock. At this rate, they could attend their classes if they so wished to, but he doubted either Lavi or Lenalee were in any state to attend after what they had troubled themselves with throughout the night and the early hours of the morning.

“You should get some rest too,” he advised softly, not daring to disrupt the mellow ambience that surrounded them. 

In response, the redhead merely chuckled, shaking his head slightly. “Nah - I’m feeling energetic right now, actually,” he revealed. “Maybe it was the sandwiches…” 

Allen smiled and shrugged slightly. “If you say so. How’s Lenalee?”

“Spent,” Lavi replied wryly. “She hasn’t gotten any sleep ever since you called us over.” 

Allen frowned slightly. “Will she be all right?”

“She’ll be fine as long as she gets some rest.” Lavi grinned slightly. “You really shouldn’t worry about us - you have a lot of things to worry about as it is.” 

“You know I’ll always worry about you guys,” Allen admonished. “You’re my friends.” He leaned against the back of the couch and tilted his head, his gaze trailing over the grainy surface of the ceiling. “And after all the things you’ve done for me, I think I have the right to worry about you.” 

“Stubborn,” Lavi laughed quietly as the dark-haired woman shifted slightly against his shoulder a soft sigh passing her lips. “That means I can worry about you too, right…? You do awfully reckless things sometimes.”

“I do not…!” Allen argued good-naturedly.

“Mhm~?”

“.,.all right - maybe sometimes?” he altered. He was certain that, if the upper part of the redhead’s face was not swathed in bandages, a dubious eyebrow would be raised at him. 

“You just talked to your aunt, right?” Lavi quickly redirected the course of the conversation. “How’s everything?”

“I’m not sure,” Allen responded. “I told Road about Tyki, and then Kanda took the phone… He told me that Wisely almost died and that he figured out who the killer was…”

“What…?! Who is it?” the redhead murmured urgently, intrigued but not wishing to awaken the woman slumbering upon his shoulder.

Allen shook his head in slight frustration. “He wouldn’t tell me… He just told me not to interfere if I did go to Neah’s funeral tomorrow.”

“So he isn’t the killer?” Lavi inquired.

“I keep telling you he isn’t,” Allen sighed. “But he still won’t tell me who is.”

“Can you really trust him, Allen?” the redhead continued to question.

“Yes,” the shorter of the two males responded with no hesitation. “Kanda is a murderer, and extremely discourteous to everyone, but he’s not a liar,” he proclaimed, his gaze fixed at the opposite wall.

“...” For a few moments, silence reigned. It was soon broken by muffled chuckles courtesy of the redhead. “You sound so serious,” Lavi poked, a grin upon his lips. It soon muted itself, however, as more critical matters came to mind.

The fact did not slip by Allen’s eyes this time as he turned to survey his friend. “What’s wrong?” he questioned, not bothering with the words of ‘is everything all right’. It was rather clear that no, everything was not all right. After all, for Lavi to frown was for something grave to occur.

“I’m just a little worried about things,” Lavi admitted, grinning ruefully. “I mean I would say nothing, but then you’d bug me until I told you the truth…”

“Worried about what?” Allen interjected.

“I guess you’ll find out sometime anyway, won’t you,” the redhead sighed, turning to face him. “I didn’t want to give you more things to worry about seeing as you already have enough on your hands, but maybe it’ll be helpful for you to know…”

“Know what?” Allen interpolated, the barest hints of impatience sparking within his voice, uncharacteristic of him.

“I don’t think you’ve heard of ‘Project Noah’, have you? It was a confidential project that was eventually shut down because of failure.”

“Project Noah?” Allen repeated, the words unfamiliar to both his tongue and his ears.

“Project Noah,” Lavi affirmed. “An unholy thing that people tried a long time ago to make to create a utopia. You know - the kind of thing that ends in war and genocide? But if I remember correctly, this was before the world wars…”

“Utopia?” Allen mumbled, feeling strangely stupid. Of course he was well aware of what a utopia was, but surely there would have been some word or another about this apparently notorious project. 

“Yeah,” the redhead confirmed. “This was a while back… But anyway, a group of scientists who code named themselves ‘Noah’ were involved in it. There were fourteen of those Noah…”

“Fourteen…” Allen murmured, his gaze narrowing slightly in thought. 

“Maybe I shouldn’t talk,” Lavi immediately interrupted his thoughts. “It’s better for you to not know.”

“You can’t just say that after all that you’ve told me already!” Allen contended. The redhead shook his head firmly.

“No…it’s too much of a coincidence. I can’t tell you anything. All I will say is that Tyki and I are compatible not only by blood type, but…” Lavi drifted off. The redhead shook his head once again and attempted a smile that would have seemed realistic enough to the untrained eye. 

“It’s not like you to not say what’s on your mind,” the shorter of the two males informed with a sigh before attempting a smile of his own that he was aware the redhead wouldn’t be able to see. “I guess I just have to deal with it for now, right…? But after this is over, I’ll want an explanation…”

“Maybe,” the redhead responded in a singsong tone. “We’ll have to see, won’t we, Allen-chan~? Or…you’ll have to see, rather.”

“You’re the only one I know who would joke about something like that,” the white-haired male sighed, raking pale fingers through his tresses. His smile grew a touch more genuine. “But you’re right, I suppose…”

“Mhm~ Good. Now let’s be quiet before Lenalee wakes up. She needs her sleep.”

“Haaah? Sleeping with my Lenalee?” 

Unfortunately for the hapless pair, the doctor just happened to step out of the guest room at that moment, his ears catching wind of their conversation and misinterpreting it.

“You carnal beasts!” the older man screeched, running for them and slapping the upsides of their heads while simultaneously grabbing Lenalee from the couch.

“Huh…?” the dark-haired woman murmured, her eyes cracking open. She blinked, her dazed vision focussing as she pulled herself from the grasp of her brother and cast a glance at the two who nursed their aching heads. Her gaze snapped over to Komui.

“Brother! What if you reopened his wounds?” she reprimanded, rapidly coming to a conclusion about the situation. Striding away from him, she tilted up Lavi’s head by his chin and inspected his face. Pressing her index and middle fingers gently against the bandages upon his face, she frowned faintly. “Does this hurt?”

“Aaaah, Lenalee-chaaan~ your monster brother hurt meee~” Lavi complained petulantly, rubbing his head. 

Allen’s smile widened slightly at the comical scene.

“Well that’s because you mentioned sleeping with my darling Lenalee!” Komui accused, finger pointed towards the redhead. In turn, Lavi turned towards the voice of the man and impertinently poked his tongue out.

“I told Allen-chan that we should let her sleep because she was tired, but then  _ someone  _ decided to go and wake her up,” he retaliated cheekily.

An exaggerated gasp passed Komui’s lips as his gaze fluttered over to his younger sister. “Lenalee, is this true?” he questioned. “He’s lying, isn’t he?”

“Actually…” she began, a strained smile upon her lips.

“Lenaleeee~! I’m sorryyyyy~!” the older of the two griped, throwing his arms around the dark-haired woman, comical tears spilling down his cheek. “Big brother will go take you someplace where these brutes won’t disturb you,” he assured, beginning to walk off with her still in his grasp.

“I’m staying here,” she countered, planting her feet on the ground in order to stop him from pulling her out of the redhead’s home.

“Ehhhh? But Lenalee--”

She smiled at him before extricating herself from his grasp and allowing him to tumble onto the floor in an undignified performance. “Allen’s leaving tomorrow and Tyki won’t be at a hundred percent after he wakes up, so it’s best if someone else is there to make sure Lavi doesn’t hurt himself.”

“Huh? I won’t hurt mys--”

“You probably will,” she countered gently, stepping over to him and tugging lightly at his bandages. “Just because you’re unusually intelligent doesn’t mean you can be accustomed to not having sight in such a short period of time.” 

He winced slightly at the action and grinned ruefully. “Should I be offended?”

“If you want,” she responded cheerily. 

“Lenalee…” Komui groaned. “Those men are dangerous…”

“I can’t see,” Lavi pointed out.

“I’m leaving tonight,” Allen added.

“I’ll be fine,” she assured with a smile before glancing at the clock. “You should go rest today, Brother. If you can’t, then you can still make it in time for you seminar and your classes.”

“Oh, you’re right!” Komui exclaimed, dark eyes snapping over to the clock. “You’re so smart, Lenalee! I’ll give you leave this time, but that doesn’t mean you can neglect your studies, all right?”

“Understood,” she responded pleasantly, waving him off. “Now you should go.”

“See you soon, Lenalee~ If those two do anything to you, just let Big Brother know, okay?” he chirped, grabbing his bags from where they had fallen in all his flailing. 

“Don’t worry about me,” she replied, herding him out the door. As soon as he had finally stepped out of the house, she shut the door and locked it with a smile, leaning against it and allowing a sigh to pass her lips. Dark eyes drifted over to the two men, both facing her. “Yes?”

Allen chuckled faintly. “How you deal with him is beyond me at times,” he informed somewhat teasingly. 

“He isn’t a bad person,” she defended. “Just… A little protective at times.”

“Sure,” Lavi groaned. “A little. Sure.”

The three were silent for a few brief moments before bursting into laughter. Allen’s eyes drifted over his two friends and his smile grew strained despite the laughter that escaped his own lips as well. His laughter caught in his throat and almost elicited from his lips choked.

They were so cheerful; they were so happy it hurt. It hurt him to see this. Lenalee exhausting herself for the sake of him and his family, and Lavi sacrificing his eyes and perhaps even the bright future he could have had. All of that for Allen’s own sake. And yet, what could he do in return? He could do nothing in exchange for all they had done.

“What do you want?” he suddenly burst out, his gaze fixed intently on them. “Do you want money or something else?” Surely they would not do such things for free. After all, this world gradually continued to evolve with the nature of survival of the fittest. Nothing was free.

“What do you mean?” Lenalee questioned, seeming genuinely confused. Allen blinked in confusion.

“For everything. Lenalee - you and Komui did the operations and prevented Tyki from dying. And Lavi, you…” he drifted off. “What do you want in exchange? What can I do?”

The two faced him in neutral silence before the corner of Lavi’s lips twitched in a ghost of a smile. Lenalee, less subtly, laughed softly and shook her head.

“Don’t you understand?” she questioned. “You don’t have to give us anything.”

“But--”

“You’re awfully narrow-minded for someone who’s studying psychology,” the redhead teased, reaching out for him and nearly poking him in the eye in his endeavors to poke his cheek. “We don’t need - no - we don’t want you to pay us. We didn’t do anything expecting something from you.”

“But--!” 

“He’s right, Allen. We’re not asking anything of you.”

“But you did… At least take something as a gift if you don’t want it as a payment!” Allen insisted. 

“That’s what birthdays and Christmas are for, Allen-chan~ But until then, don’t even think about it, okay?” Lavi smiled. “If he’ll be able to see again, then that’ll be my reward.”

“Lavi…” A frown spread itself over the face of the white-haired male as he stared at his friend, who merely faced him with a smile of content despite his obvious disadvantage. Biting his lip, Allen nodded. “...yes,” he finally consented with a sigh.

“That’s better,” Lavi chirped, finally managing to poke his cheek without doing any harm to his eyes or the surrounding skin. Allen chuckled faintly and pushed the hand away. 

“You’re not going to get away on your birthday,” the shorter of the two males threatened good-naturedly. 

“I’m looking forward to it, then,” Lavi jested with a mischievous grin.

“Hm~ Maybe I’ll take you up on that, Allen,” Lenalee added in a slightly singsong tone, her dark eyes sparkling. He slumped back against the couch and shook his head slightly.

“You guys…” he grumbled good-naturedly. “Make up your minds already.” 

“Silly - you can owe us later. For now, let’s be glad that things haven’t taken a turn for the worse.”

Lavi’s words caused the occupants of the living room of his home to fall silent, the thought striking them as a sobering one. Allen nodded wordlessly in agreement with the statement of the redhead while Lenalee watched both of the men through slightly worried eyes. 

“Allen…” she began. He glanced up at her. “You said you’re going back tonight?” He nodded in affirmation. She frowned faintly. “Is it all right… I mean…” she momentarily drifted off, causing his head to tilt in interest. “May I come with you?”

“No!” There was little need for Allen to consider her words, his own response leaving his lips before he had the chance to. She flinched back slightly, but remained adamant. He frowned. “It’s not safe, Lenalee! I can’t let you follow.”

“Then how about you? Why do you have to go?” she pressed. “You won’t be safe either. And if anyone is hurt in your family, I can help them. I can take care of myself.”

“I know you can, but I can’t risk you getting hurt,” he contended. “Would Komui be too happy about it? No… I can’t let you come.”

“But--”

“Won’t Tyki and Lavi need you? You said it yourself; it’ll take some time before Lavi gets used to this, and Tyki won’t be at a hundred percent when he wakes up…”

“I…” she drifted off, her eyes lowering to the floor in thickly veiled frustration at the truth in his words. Allen relaxed at the sight, trusting that she would make sense of his words. 

“Why don’t you let her go, Allen?” Lavi interjected suddenly, causing him to stiffen once again, his gaze flying over to the redhead.

“You’re not actually considering it, are you?” he breathed out. “It’s dangerous - I said so already…!”

“But in your case, it would be helpful to have someone who’s experienced in the medical field, right?” he countered reasonably. “She’s not weak, you know.”

“I know…! But…”

“I won’t hold you back, Allen - just please let me help at least…” Lenalee urged. 

He frowned. “You’ve already helped so much...why this too? It isn’t just another place where only the patient’s life is in danger, Lenalee…! You could be in danger too!”

“I know,” she responded. “But...if anything, I really want this to stop. I don’t want you to lose anyone else, and I don’t want to lose you either,” she confessed with a frown. “I’ll be of some help at least if anything happens…”

“I…” He drifted off. “Nothing will happen,” he sighed out, more so in attempts to convince himself as opposed to her. “It’s just Neah’s funeral...nothing will happen.” Despite his words, the three of them felt certain that the stated was indeed false, even Allen himself.

“Please let me attend,” she persevered. 

“I’ll be able to take care of myself until then,” Lavi assured. “And I’m sure that Tyki will be all right too. He seems like the kind of guy who can get himself together without much trouble.” 

The absolute certainty in Lavi’s voice caused Allen to flinch and breathe out yet another sigh. Monochrome eyes drifted over to Lenalee as his lips parted.

“All right. But if you come, please listen to whatever I say,” he agreed, adding his conditions.

She nodded. “Understood.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If things go as planned, we'll be able to find out who the murderer is next chapter...or will we?


End file.
